Tom Oswald
Articles:Mediation needs a Political Action Committee (PAC). We need professional representation for our ‘industry’ among the decision makers in our government at all levels: federal; state; and municipal. We need to communicate what we can do to help elected officials, policy makers, as well as business leaders better achieve their objectives by using meditative conflict resolution techniques. 2 Comments Mediation at TOP OF MIND Mediation needs to get closer to a ‘top of mind’ status with consumers if we are to accelerate the development of our profession and to accomplish more positive effect. To do that, we need to invest ourselves in the marketing of our profession. 1 Comment Diversity: Breaking out of Intellectual Bondage The concept of diversity means a lot more than what we generally tend to associate it with. Popularly we tend to frame diversity in terms of discrimination on basis of gender (please, it’s NOT “sex,” it’s “gender”), skin color, religious affiliations (or absence thereof), sexual orientation, physical ability or appearance, and increasingly political and cultural perspectives. When I take a closer look at all of those different ‘sorting’ schemata I believe it all comes down to how we >think<, or don’t think, about all those differences and how we choose to deal with them. This choice of perspective can either enable us or handicap us and the choice is really up to the individual. Commercial Section Editorial The realm of commercial mediation is as wide and diverse as is business itself. The Commercial Section of Mediate.com seeks to move the profession forward with a big-tent approach characterized by inclusion of a variety of areas, viewpoints, and philosophic approaches. We serve as a nexus of information about professional development for commercial practitioners. Here we candidly and respectfully explore the interests, requirements, and concerns of practitioners, and their clients, who are involved in the broad spectrums of commercial mediation. 1 Comment Iraq and Afghanistan: Opportunities for ADR The collapse of one sort of governmental infrastructure needs to be replaced with another, and the sooner, the better. Now is the time to introduce collaborative conflict resolution and arbitral conflict adjudication into the post-armed conflict re-construction cultures of Iraq and Afghanistan. 2 Comments Impasse Breaking Tip: What Would it Sound Like To You If They Understood? I anguished over whether to write this piece or not. On one hand, I wanted to share this experience with others. On the other hand, I was concerned some practitioners may find this concept too elementary and consequently think less of me for writing about it. Then I factored in a major concern I have about our profession: that we have a scarcity of casework discussion. There seems to be not enough inter-collegial sharing about mediation technique and casework. What Kind Of Commercial Mediator Are You Are you a specialist or generalist commercial mediator? Has anyone ever asked you this question? Sometimes I get interrogated about this when I introduce myself as a Commercial Mediator. The broad range of possibilities that can be ‘commercial mediation’ does warrant elaboration, especially from the perspective of a potential client. Commercial Section Editorial Welcome to the Mediate.com Commercial Section. This section is devoted to the advancement of professional commercial mediation from the dual perspectives of both the consumer and of the practitioner. I anticiate that we will focus on advancing the application of commercial mediation to business disputes and the practice of commercial mediation.  |
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