In our home, we joke that we ought to hire Luigi out as an assertiveness coach, and make him earn his keep. Luigi is one of our two dogs, an 8-lb. shih tzu (maybe) we found running along a highway 10 years ago. Eight pounds of dog, 100 pounds of assertiveness. What’s more, when [...]

Some time ago I wrote a post on having difficult conversations by email. In it I cautioned about use of the “tweaking CC and I want to repeat that caution for newer readers of this blog.
The tweaking CC is the copying of an email message to someone the sender believes has power over or [...]

For those among my readers who are ADR professionals in private practice, I’m excited to let you know of my latest venture: MediatorTech.
MediatorTech grew out calls from other ADR professionals seeking my advice and guidance on leveraging technology to build, promote or manage their practices better. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a technophile [...]

When a contentious or complex problem arises, it’s common to want to allay fears, downplay misinformation, side-step values differences, convince others that all will be well, or bring in a speaker or trainer. Too often, these approaches have mixed success because advocates for one point of view tend to have limited credibility with those who [...]

If you’re a hamster, it would be darn helpful to know the snake you’re suddenly sharing a cage with cares more about friendship than food right then. You’d want to figure out how to use that to your advantage (and the snake’s), right? I’ve said in the past that knowing and addressing the other [...]

Have you seen the new King Kong? Did you sit there and think, This is ridiculous! Why am I even watching this? Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a gorilla that size.
I doubt it.
If you did, perhaps the person next to you gave you extra popcorn to keep your outraged sighs and snorts [...]

I know the title’s an audacious claim! What if it’s possible? I think it is.
I’ve started reading a great blog by Kirsten Osolind, CEO of re:invention Consulting, a marketing company for women-led businesses. In a post this week, Kirsten proposed the idea of a business stencil, “which provides a framework guide to [...]