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Blogs

You will find useful articles on conflict-related topics.

Samantha Hardy

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

There are two essential books about emotions that everyone should read. One is this one, Emotional Intelligence (published in 1996) and the other is Susan David’s Emotional Agility (published 20 years later in 2016). Both books are about understanding and learning to work with our emotions. Goleman’s book starts with an overview of how our

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Samantha Hardy

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Emotional Agility by Susan David

Dr Susan David is an emotions researcher and executive coach. This book is essential reading for anyone working with clients in conflict, and anyone who experiences emotions (yes, that’s all of us)! ‘Agility’ is about breaking free from our emotional habits so that we can make more conscious choices about how to respond when our

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Samantha Hardy

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Mediation Behaviour by Stephen Walker

This book has just been released by a UK mediator and former solicitor. It attempts to synthesize much of the recent research about the brain, emotions and behaviour and apply it to our work as mediators. The book chapters focus on Brain, Feeling, Thinking, Intuition, Self, Barriers, Bridges, Persuasion, Prediction, Perception, Money, Power, Truth, Fairness,

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Samantha Hardy

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown

This is the newest book by Brené Brown, and as usual it provides an engaging and accessible overview of research about emotions, combined with Brené’s very personal anecdotes. The book’s raison d’etre is to help us understand how our feelings, thoughts and behaviours work together, and how our emotions shape our thoughts and decisions. These

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Samantha Hardy

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

This book is essential reading for anyone who is trying to change, or who supports others to change. The book explains why change is hard, why sustaining change is even harder, and then provides some very practical strategies and scaffolding to support people to do those hard things. The authors identify three surprises about change:

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Samantha Hardy

Letter from a courageous conflict leader

Recently I was a guest on Lizzie Bentley-Bower’s Leadership Letters podcast. In that podcast we talked about the importance of effective conflict management as an essential management skill.  Lizzie also asks her guests to write a leadership letter, usually a letter to a leader who you admire. I decided to do something a little bit

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