From Gladiator to Collaborator

10 May 2018 Disagreement is a common and normal human experience. There are many ways of dealing with it and these may lead to resolution, or they may not. Resolving a conflict is usually aided by involving a third party, one not personally involved. As a society, we have set up facilities and facilitators to […]

I don’t lose, you don’t lose

15 November 2017 In Australia, as in the USA and UK, disputes between individuals and between and with businesses are traditionally ‘adjudicated’ in adversarial tribunals, where theoretically the winner takes all. In practice, however, the ‘winner’ may take nothing, especially after the full costs of the affray are taken into account. Each side in such […]

Seeing the other side clearly

19 August 2017 Human relations are fraught with hazards and none are more destructive of these relations than entrenched positions. Holding to a position, entrenched or not, makes it impossible to relate to another person or to communicate with them in any meaningful way. Disagreements are inevitable and they can be resolved through clear and […]

Peeling away the layers

19 June 2017 When I was studying at university fifty years ago, I learned about the ‘laws’ of science, the ‘laws’ of mathematics and the crafted laws of society. It was these laws of society in which I went on to gain an undergraduate degree. I came to understand that the physical and numerical laws […]