To some folks reading the title, it may conjure up the four questions asked by the youngest at the Passover seder. But I am not referring to that at all. A few weeks ago, I tuned into The Hidden Brain podcast while taking a walk. Entitled “We Need to Talk [Read More]
Once again, I am teaching Employment Dispute Mediation online to students in various professions, including Human Resources, union representatives, teachers, law enforcement, paralegals, etc. As in past classes, Active Listening is an important topic that most of them need to work on. I raise this issue as the Harvard Program [Read More]
Several weeks ago, I was retained to conduct a used car mediation. Two days before the mediation, I sent the Zoom link to the attorneys and asked the defense counsel if she had obtained settlement authority, as this has been an issue. In response, the attorney advised that she had [Read More]
Earlier this week, I was preparing for one of my classes by reading the next chapter in the textbook. Although the chapter discusses basic negotiation strategy, it mentions the term “Boulwarism,” which intrigued me. It is named after General Electric vice president Lemuel Boulware, who used the “take-it-or-leave-it” tactic in [Read More]
An article in this week’s The Economist discusses the benefits of mindful breathing in reducing stress. It got me thinking that perhaps the parties in mediation should start the session with mindful breathing. The article “Can you breathe stress away?” discusses a meta-analysis published in Scientific Reports in 2023. The [Read More]
Recenly, I came upon a blog post from the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School that is worth discussing. It is entitled “10 Hard Bargaining Negotiation Tactics to Watch” Out for in a Negotiation" by Pon Staff (January 19, 2025). I have seen one or more of these [Read More]
The Harvard Negotiation PON’s recent blog raises an interesting issue: in a negotiation should you set a goal? In “The Anchoring Effect and How It Can Impact Your Negotiation”, it answers “yes”. Noting that the “anchoring effect is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too [Read More]
In my final blog of the last four Decembers, I have reflected on the previous 525,600 minutes aka the year. Another 525,600 minutes have elapsed, and it appears that we are finally through with the pandemic. However, we are not through with Covid-19 (Or should I say that Covid -19 [Read More]
