Recently, mediate.com initiated publication of a series of pieces entitled Seven Keys to Unlock Mediation’s Golden Age.  Here’s the introduction.

The objective of the Seven Keys is to encourage discussion among all stakeholders on navigating mediation’s best future.

The seven keys are: Leadership, Data, Education, Profession, Technology, Government and Usage.  Each key has between two and four articles, each no more than 1,111 words in length, contributed by some 40 leading authors around the world.  …

The Seven Keys articles portray a variety of images and understandings of mediation.  All recognize mediation’s extraordinary versatility.  Some focus on resolving disputes; some on deal making; some on managing interpersonal disputes in families, communities, schools and the workplace with more of a relational focus; others are about peace-making between groups and nations and public policy decision-making.  Some of these articles apply to all sectors of mediation practice while others focus on particular fields with a view to inspiring new adaptations and approaches in other areas.  Each key is a jigsaw piece.  Connected together, they form a vibrant, exciting vision of how the field can dramatically improve and prosper.

The 40 women and men from the mediation sphere around the world who have contributed to this work reflect many different backgrounds, experiences and cultures.  We owe our gratitude to each contributor for succinctly sharing their proposals for how mediation can achieve its Golden Age.  Each article has been peer reviewed by other contributors.  We are also grateful to the extraordinary thought leaders who prepared the Introduction and Conclusion for their strong encouragement, deep perception and clear vision.

We pay tribute to all the contributors for agreeing that this work may be freely republished, either as individual articles or as a complete book, under the terms of the Creative Commons License below.  As Seneca said over 2,000 years ago: the best ideas are common property.