In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Leigh Thompson (Northwestern) reports on her research around getting women to negotiate “more like men” (that is, competitive and unethical) and men to negotiate “more like women” (that is, empathetic and honest). The article is here. Nothing new here in terms of substantive advice, as Professor Thompson concludes … Continue reading Gender and negotiation – more of the same →

A recent New Yorker has a thought-provoking piece on reading Gandhi in the context of the current political moment. For those who are grappling with the complexities of creating meaningful dialogue in the midst of divisions, it is startling to read how prescient Gandhi was about what we face today. Author Pankaj Mishra argues that … Continue reading Reading Gandhi →

Building on Andrea’s post on teaching the Kavanaugh hearings, I am thinking about whether and how to teach my negotiation students about strategic uses of anger. Obviously such a discussion raises interesting questions around whether and how certain groups are able to display anger, and to whom. (It’s not true that all men can act … Continue reading Does Anger Pay Off? →

In case you hadn’t heard, yesterday Judge Kavanaugh appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to respond to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. His testimony, both what he said and how he said it, provides much for us to analyze. Consider this exchange with Senator Amy Klobuchar: … Continue reading Kavanaugh Apologizes to Klobuchar →

From FOI Rishi Batra: A quick reminder from the Legal Education in Dispute Resolution Committee of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution that Program Proposals for the Spring Conference (April 10-13, 2019, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis, MN) are due by August 31, 2018. This includes proposals for the Legal Educators Colloquium (LEC) … Continue reading Call for Proposals – ABA DR Conference →

In our field, we specialize in facilitating conversations between people who think differently about things. But even our field has been divided by the question of whether we can or should converse with people who hold particular views. Consider this graphic: (HT to Above the Law. You can click on it to make it bigger.) … Continue reading Can We Talk? Should We? →

Whether some problem requires radical change or incremental reform is a familiar tension in law and life. Should we abolish prisons, for example, or should we seek to improve them? Is cold-turkey best for drug addiction, or is a phased approach more effective? Does it make more sense to repeal the Second Amendment than to … Continue reading ADR: Incremental Reform or Radical Change? →

A simulation co-authored by Noam Ebner (Creighton) has been named a first-prize co-winner of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs annual E-PARCC teaching case and simulation competition. Congratulations, Noam! The simulation places participants in the role of EU leaders tasked with forming EU policy in face of the waves of migration entering … Continue reading Ebner Wins Award →

Those of us who teach negotiation often focus on building rapport and being attentive to relational dynamics. Expressing appreciation is part of the negotiator’s skillset, and giving compliments falls somewhere in this area. But how do we do this effectively? A new study explores the effectiveness of the “backhanded compliment” in interpersonal dynamics. As it … Continue reading Backhanded Compliments →

I am thrilled to be part of the highly anticipated second edition of The Negotiator’s Desk Reference, recently published by Mitchell Hamline’s DRI Press. The NDR comprises two volumes and brings together articles from numerous scholars (including our bloggers!) across a wide variety of disciplines. Five years ago, I attended a conference at Marquette to … Continue reading Comes Now NDR v.2 →