WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: A Brand New Narrative: Social Attitudes Toward Conflict Resolution and Inefficiency in Marketing and Branding by Emily Skinner
I don’t usually review PhD theses, but this one caught my attention and has some really interesting ideas. In her thesis, Emily comes up with some persuasive arguments to explain the conundrum that there is a high social need for conflict resolution services, but low market demand. She identifies practitioners’ assumptions, expectations and knowledge about
The power of slowing down communication
I recently reviewed the book Elastic by Leonard Mlodinow and have been thinking more about his discussion on how we understand what someone is saying to us. He explains that when you are listening to someone speak, rather than trying to decide the meaning of each word as it is spoken, your brain keeps the
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Liminal thinking by Dave Gray.
I first came across the concept of liminal spaces when I was doing my Narrative Coach training with Dr David Drake. He talks about liminal spaces and thresholds between stages in his coaching model. These are “in between” spaces in which the client has the opportunity to make a choice to move into a new
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: The Ritual Effect by Michael Norton
In this book, Professor Michael Norton merges his expertise in social psychology and behavioural economics to explore rituals, and how people use and experience rituals in their day-to-day lives. This includes everyday rituals far beyond the kinds of religious rituals that might first come to mind. The book asks what rituals do, for ourselves, our
Reflections on 30 years on in Rwanda: Presenting Research on Genocide, Sexual Violence, and Justice
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Between April and July 1994, and estimated 800,000 to million people were killed and an upward of 350,000 women were raped. As an internally recognised expert on sexual violence committed during the genocide and on transitional justice initiatives that dealt
Boundaries in conflict
In my work with clients in conflict, I constantly find that they have missed many opportunities to manage conflict more effectively. In particular, they often fail to set appropriate boundaries (or ANY boundaries) to allow themselves to be at their best in conflict situations. Boundaries are a fundamental part of preventing unnecessary conflict, and managing