I recently re-read John W. Gardner's 1990 book "On Leadership."

Gardner was Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson, creator of Common Cause, and presided over the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In Chapter 9, Gardner noted that every government and business leader must occasionally engage in justifiable conflict and while we seem to have a limitless capacity for conflict there is a point where conflict becomes counterproductive. Political, business and informal leaders must learn the art of preventing, defusing, and resolving conflicts. 

Gardner listed ways to help disputants work together and search for solutions. The list included scaling down irrational demands and provocations, differing perceptions of the facts, insensitivity of each side to the other's legitimate needs and giving each side the possibility of compromising without losing face. Making it possible for each side to have their say while the other side is required to listen can make it possible for parties to find common ground that can be pursued to mutual advantage.

Gardner described a process (later used by President Carter to arrive at the Camp David Accords) of a third party drafting a proposed settlement agreement for discussion that was basically mid-way between the positions of the two parties. With each subsequent draft the parties began to find ways to agree. He ends his discussion of conflict resolution by writing that the techniques of conflict resolution should be taught in every high school and college.

I can't help but wonder what Gardner would propose in Washington today.

Since a number of my readers volunteer as mediators in various Small Claims courts, an upcoming change to credit reporting should be of interest. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that effective in the beginning of July 2017 the three major credit-reporting firms (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) will remove civil judgment data if they don't include the person's complete name, address, social security number or date of birth. 

As most judgments don't show all of this information, the effect is that a judgment in Small Claims Court will no longer appear on a person's credit report. This change also applies to existing records.

How does this change Small Claims Court mediation? Mediators will no longer be able to say to defendants that a court judgment will appear on their credit reports, which until now has been one of the major ways that people were motivated to select mediation and work toward a settlement in order to avoid the negative credit rating.

Undoubtedly, mediators will need to stress to their clients the other positive benefits of the service they provide.