What's Happening [10.15.13]

"What's Happening?" Blog is a weekly round up of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more. Check it out each week and view past news [HERE]

Schmooze or Lose: How the Lost Art of Negotiation Led to a Shutdown

Jack Welch

Book Review: 'The Art of Negotiation' by Michael Wheeler

Mike Tyson once said - "Everybody has a plan untilthey get punched in the face". Improvisation, in other words, goes a long way toward a successful strategy in any context but also in the context of negotiation.

In The Art of Negotiation, Harvard Business School Professor and editor of Negotiation Journal, Michael Wheeler echoes the sage insight of the master of the ring: canned, scripted plays can't survive contact with reality because the people you're negotiating with are capable of surprising moves and are just as smart and fallible as you.

Read more [HERE]

Speaking Your Mind

Cinnie Noble- The expression on today’s blog - speaking your mind - means saying exactly what we think regardless of whether or not others will agree. The idea of doing so comes with boundaries for some of us, and we may not say exactly what is on our mind whether or not others will agree. That may be only one reason. Other reasons have to do with a fear of conflict and associated challenges discussed in a number of previous blogs. What other reasons occur to you?

A little anecdote about truth-telling occurred to me as I was focusing on this topic. I value honesty and try my best to live my life with truths. Some years ago I read a newspaper article entitled “Lie to me a Little” and I smiled then, and as I recall it, because in that article the author wrote about an interpersonal conflict and how she had wished the other person had not been so “brutally honest”.

Read more HERE

Government Shutdown Tip: Build A Golden Bridge

Jeff Thompson- What does a bridge, no less a 'golden' one, have to do with mediation and negotiation? Well, the term is from William Ury's book, Getting Past No [here at Amazon and many others].

Building a golden bridge refers to making sure you have satisfied and overcome the the four common obstacles to an agreement: involving them in devising a solution, meeting unmet interests, helping them save face and finally making the process as simple and easy as possible.

Read more HERE