Author Archives: abfifer

Apology is Better Without “Any”

March 7, 2020 – 4:38 pm

Public apologies are hard to do well. Just ask the leaders of the University of Michigan. With reports about sexual misconduct from a former sports doctor going public last week, U of M President Mark Schlissel issued an apology to “anyone” who was harmed by Dr. Anderson, according to a Detroit News report. What if […]

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Quit While You’re Ahead

February 17, 2020 – 3:38 pm

Mediation is facilitated negotiation, so it’s good for mediators to pay attention to what happens in negotiation. I had two recent experiences that reminded me of a key negotiation principle, “quit while you’re ahead.” In one case, I hadn’t gotten points in my airlines reward program. I made my case over the phone for why […]

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Baseball Players Apologize

February 13, 2020 – 4:51 pm

Several Major League baseball players apologized today for what’s been called the “sign-stealing scandal.” Members of the Houston Astros team were caught impermissibly intercepting signals exchanged between members of their opposing teams. But you wouldn’t know that from their vague apologies. None of them specifically explain what they did that was wrong, or for what […]

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Safety Screening May Have Helped

January 31, 2020 – 12:37 pm

The Michigan Court of Appeals just reviewed yet another divorce mediation where the wife claimed that she was “coerced” by her attorney and by the mediator to agree. The Court, in a 2-1 decision, affirmed the divorce agreement in Pohlman v Pohlman, unpublished opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued January 30, 2020 (Docket No. […]

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Mediating a Denominational Division

January 29, 2020 – 10:30 am

The United Methodists are dividing, and have used a mediator to help them. Sometimes mediation is used to bring people together, mend fences and repair relationships (e.g., employment disputes). But other times it’s used to help people part ways as amicably as possible, most notably in divorce cases. The split within the United Methodist Church […]

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