FROM THE BEGINNING TO NEWEST TEXTBOOK

I’m frequently asked how and why I got started as a mediator. The “how” is history: Sam Keltner, an academic colleague who had experience with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, may have been the first person to introduce me to the profession. After that, I taught some classes for the Rochester, New York extension of Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and had many stimulating conversations with the professional mediators working there.

The “why” is more personal: As a child growing up in South Texas I was struck with the many consequences of economic and social class. Some people had privileges and power others did not. In my child’s mind, that was simply not “fair,” although I had no solutions. Years later as a graduate student I was honored to be an occasional instructor at Michigan State University Department of Communication/Agency for International Development workshops in communication. In some the classes we used R. Garry Shirts simulation "StarPower," which in dramatic ways demonstrates the consequences of economic and political stratification. Participants who by chance gained power often believed they had somehow earned and deserved this advantage and exercised it over others with less power. It was around this time I became dedicated to “leveling the playing field.”

In my academic area of communication studies I was one of the first to introduce the study of conflict into the discipline with an early reader. From that start I later published the book “Win-Win Negotiating: Turning Conflict into Agreement” (published by Wiley in 1985) and developed the training seminar “Managing Conflict Productively,” which I conducted nationally for many years. Concurrently, I became increasingly involved in mediation as a mediator, trainer and researcher. With the noted intercultural counselor Paul Pedersen I planned and executed an international conference for practicing mediators throughout Asia held at Penang, Malaysia. Case studies from that conference were published in the book “Constructive Conflict Management: Asia-Pacific Cases.”

I was finally able to put my experiences in a textbook for college level classes in conflict. The second edition of that book has just been published by Cognella. It’s just a continuation of my personal efforts to encourage people to find creative ways to deal with conflict that truly “level the playing field.”

Cognella’s website features the book here.