Daily Archives: February 18, 2009

Mediating on YouTube

Posted on February 18, 2009 | 2 Comments

mediation on youtubeIt didn’t take long for mediators to leverage the power of YouTube.  A search on YouTube for “mediation” today yields almost 4,000 results, impressive even when you take into account the fact that some of those search results include “meditation” misspelled and “Mediate“, an INXS song from 1987.

Among the video clips on mediation that populate the extensive YouTube library is this one: an enterprising mediator persuaded two clients to let the camera into the mediation room and then uploaded excerpts to YouTube, where you can see some of the negotiations involving a neighborhood dispute over a dog.

You can view it here on YouTube. Creative use of social media for marketing or the mediation profession going to hell in a handbasket? You be the judge.

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Posted in Mediation

More negotiation lessons from humor

Posted on February 18, 2009 | 3 Comments

Questions before decisionsLast fall, in “A negotiator walks into a bar“, I passed along a humorous story offering lessons in problem solving that a friend happened to email me. Over the weekend, this same friend emailed me another joke, which likewise serves double-duty as a cautionary tale for negotiators.

Here it is:

A large company, thinking it was high time for a shake-up, hired a new CEO.

The new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers.

On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning against a wall. The room was full of workers, and the CEO wanted them to know that he meant business. He walked up to the guy leaning against the wall and demanded, “How much money do you make a week?” A little surprised, the guy looked at him and replied, “I make $400 a week. Why?”

The CEO pulls out his wallet, hands the guy $1,600 in cash and yells, “Here’s four weeks’ pay, now get out and don’t come back!”

Feeling pretty good about himself, the CEO looked around the room and asked, “Does anyone want to tell me what that slacker did around here?”

For a moment, silence reigned. Then, a worker close by gathered the courage to speak up: “Pizza delivery guy from Domino’s.”

The moral of the story: ask questions before you decide, not after.

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Posted in Decision Making and Judgment, Negotiation and Settlement, Popular Culture, Politics, Society