Two different blog posts on the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School's website suggests that mood and one's emotions play an important role in negotiations. If one negotiate while in a bad mood, chances are the negotiations will not turn out well. For this reason, we, intuitively, wait until [Read More]
The Harvard Law School Program On Negotiation issued a Special Report entitled "Crisis Communication! How to Avoid Being Held Hostage by Crisis Negotiations". (Crisis Communication ) While I am not a "crisis" negotiator per se although some of my litigation mediations may seem like it at times, this Special Report [Read More]
Once again, The Economist reported on another quirky study. In an article entitled "Tall dark and stable" in the psychology section of its July 14, 2012 edition, the author discusses how "wobbly furniture leads to a desire for emotional stability." Evidently, previous studies have shown that if one is given [Read More]
In its July 21, 2012 edition, The Economist (in an article entitled " 'Snot Fair") discusses a research project conducted by Dr. Nicola Raihani of University College, London and Katherine McAuliffe of Harvard recently published in Biology indicating that people will cry "foul" when they are taken advantage of or [Read More]
The business section of the Sunday (July 7, 2012) New York Times had an interesting article entitled "Don't Indulge. Be Happy." by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton. Ms. Dunn is an associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia while Mr. Norton is an associate professor of business [Read More]
During one of my early meditation training classes, the teacher suggested that we set out food in the conference rooms during the mediation for at least two reasons. The first is that it provides an indication of how anxious/nervous/relaxed is each party. People do not tend to reach for food [Read More]
Science never ceases to amaze me. Now there is a study that finds that being too happy is not a good thing. According to an article in the April 2, 2012 edition of The Washington Post entitled "Too much happiness can make you unhappy, studies show", one can be less [Read More]
If you have ever mediated a case with me (and most of you have not), you know that I crack jokes, especially in the opening joint session. There is a method to my madness; to take the tension out of the situation and try to put the parties at ease. [Read More]
