Gini Nelson’s Engaging Conflicts

Back in April I posted Part One of a series on use of the MBTI in professional practices (and personal life). I expanded greatly on it in an article just published in the ABA’s Law Trends & News. This newsletter is introduced by its editor thusly:

Below is the third issue of Law Trends for the 2007–08 bar year. As always, this is a very exciting issue, and I am very happy to present it to you. As with prior issues, this e-newsletter includes articles, checklists, and other valuable practice information and practical tips, all from each of our substantive practice areas in the General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division. This issue also highlights some emerging areas, some interesting checklists, and much more.

While this is written explicitly for lawyers, whether mediators or not, the same principles apply to mediators who are not attorneys, in terms of the value of applying its principles. I believe strongly that mediators who are not attorneys will have statistically relevant differences in their type characteristics from attorneys, so if you are not an attorney, please keep that in mind in reading the statistics about type in lawyers. Read more »

If you did not see it at the time, it is well worth viewing Randy Pausch’s “last lecture”. He died last Friday, July 25, 2008.

I thought I had posted about it at the time, when the YouTube film circulated, but I do not find it in the Engaging Conflicts archives. I think I have “technical difficulties” about embedding YouTube videos, and never got around to fixing the problem.
Here’s the link to the YouTube, which is introduced this way:

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving presentation …

Here’s a link to the article announcing his death [New York Times (free subscription might be required)]; and here’s a Flickr site set up by his friends.
To give you a small sense of the man — I laughed out loud several times during the talk at his humor — here are some quotes from his lecture:

“My dad said, if there’s an elephant in the room, introduce him!” [about the fact that he was recently diagnosed with fast-killing pancreatic cancer]

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt; just how we play the hand. If I don’t seem as depressed and morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you!”

Truly, it was and is an inspiring talk about living, about attaining and helping others to attain childhood dreams, and about what’s important in life.

My condolences to his family and friends; my gratitude to have benefited some small piece from his personal generosity and courage.

I posted here announcing the premier edition of my column at the work-life online magazine The Complete Lawyer, distributed to some 300,000 attorneys nation-wide. The column is co-written with Vickie Pynchon, Diane Levin, and Stephanie West Allen.

The theme of this issue of The Complete Lawyer (Vol. 4, No. 4) is “What’s Your Exit Strategy?”Here’s the newest installment of “The Human Factor,” what we have learned from mediation and negotiation that can have very broad application in your life and work.

Here’s the link to the previous column on how we came to be mediators.

Some of you have asked, and I thank you for that. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted for a while. I’m okay — I’ve had to prioritize getting my law practice back up and running. I had let it drop to almost nothing for several years while I prioritized Engaging Conflicts. I’ve had a real learning curve as I changed my market niche from family law (which I still do it by referral), to bankruptcy and bankruptcy avoidance. It’s been challenging and rewarding — there’s a lot to learn, and a great need for good attorneys here, and I am enjoying it. (Although it’s not always fun being on steep learning curves! It’s been quite a ride!)

Also, I was doing articles for both the ABA Law Trends online newsletter (here’s my recent article) and the online magazine The Complete Lawyer, where I coauthor the The Human Factor column with Vickie Pynchon, Diane Levin and Stephanie West Allen (see the post tomorrow about the newest column). I also now write an occasional column on use of online, social media over at TCL, starting with the Sept./Oct. issue. Overall, I am writing more for attorneys, and not only for mediators.

Wheh!

I am happy that I have gotten the law practice up and running, and I am enjoying more interaction with lawyers again. I am also very happy I am going to be able to add Engaging Conflicts back into my regular life!

This just announced (well, last night) by ChangeThis:

Beginning [today, July 25], and running through August 4th, Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Macmillan Audio will be offering the audio edition of Thomas Friedman’s THE WORLD IS FLAT for free. Listeners will receive the audiobook in three easy-to-download sections, and soon after that, as an added bonus, will also receive an exclusive prepublication audio excerpt of Friedman’s HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED: WHY WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION AND HOW IT CAN RENEW AMERICA. The book itself will be released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on September 8th.

Jeff Seroy, Senior Vice President of marketing and publicity at FSG, said the purpose of this audio giveaway is to “celebrate Friedman’s enormous influence on our lives and times. And in preparation for the release of his new book, a green manifesto and a continuation in many ways of his thinking in THE WORLD IS FLAT, we want to enable anyone who hasn’t already read THE WORLD IS FLAT to catch up with Friedman’s argument and vision for the future.”

If you’d like to receive these free audio downloads, sign up at the address below:

http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/giveaway

Enjoy!