Developing one's voice as a mediator can be tricky business. Our personality, empathy, and humor should shine through with our clients...accompanied by a soupcon of acting.  Maintaining neutrality, suppressing your political/religious/personal views, and poker-facing the bizarre can…

Folks, I’d like to reflect on the amazing, whirlwind year that’s coming to a close.  We officially became the New York Peace Institute this year, building upon three decades as a Safe…

I was 10 years old when Star Wars came out, and when Star Trek was on TV in a continuous loop of syndicated reruns.  A common playground topic was which of the two rocked harder, and the debate continues to this day, fueled by schticky banter on youtube between Shatner and Carrie Fisher.

Perhaps in an early display of mediation sensibilities, I embraced both shows, with props to Star Wars…

I took a Latin American politics course in college, and the prof told us, à la Jeff Foxworthy, that if a leader wears sunglasses indoors, he's probably a despot.

Here are some ostensible reasons why some dictators might've rocked the shades:

-- Kim Jong Il, North Korean Dear Leader:  His lady-who-lunches specs added some compensatory bling to…

The world lost a true mensch this week, former Czechoslovak president Vaclav Havel.

Vaclav Havel showed us a world in which one man could be a poet, playwright, protester, political prisoner, peacemaker, and president.  A man who embraced the paradox of dissent and dialogue.  A man who humbly vanquished 50 years of oppression, and then impishly rode his bike through the corridors of…