Deborah is very inclusive and supportive in our learning and understanding how our thoughts and behaviors can be changed to help us have better outcomes in our conflicts.
A Mediation Client
In this category, I discuss conflicts that shape how we recall and tell our stories. It’s an important topic because how conflict is depicted and reflected back to us, shapes and influences our understandings of the world.
I’m often disheartened at the negative and shallow ways that conflicts are depicted in fiction, nonfiction, popular culture, and current events. Inadequate analyses of conflicts contribute to the divisive polarization that currently rend politics and set us against each other.
Being conflict competent allowed me to deal with the wretchedness of quadruple (yes, four) mastectomies after I was diagnosed with a rare, potentially deadly form of breast cancer.
Bottom line: how to understand conflict is a core competency we all need in life and in society.
Stories are how we demonstrate our conflict competence and conflict incompetence. Stories are a safe place to figure out what we do or don’t want in our own lives and relationships.
On the other hand, fiction about competent conflict management, I am told often, won’t sell. Conflict sells. Incompetence sells. Dysfunctional interpersonal relationships also sell. Managing conflict with skill – big yawn.
What to do with my protagonist who is a Conflict Manager and very good at her job? My novel is an answer for those who say proficiently managing conflict isn’t interesting.
Soon, my finished novel might get published. Stay tuned.
Follow this blog for updates. Browse these posts where I use popular culture as examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly of conflict.
Deborah is very inclusive and supportive in our learning and understanding how our thoughts and behaviors can be changed to help us have better outcomes in our conflicts.
A Mediation Client
Dr. Sword is highly regarded for her preparation skills, ability to identify relevant criteria for decision-making, and hearing skills as a panel member. Her contribution to panel decision making is noted and she embodies other relevant attributes, including knowledge, judgment, consistency, and objectivity.
An Arbitration Client