Saturday, January 31

Recent Robert Benjamin articles

From Robert Benjamin's Newsletter, which he describes as including a few street smart practical suggestions and miscellaneous musings from the shadow side of negotiation practice;

Cloaked Negotiation: Necessary Back-Channel, Under the Table and Surreptitious Strategies and Techniques to Make Deals Work, Jan 2009


Cloaked and surreptitious negotiation strategies are commonly used but seldom openly discussed by conflict management practitioners. This is the shadow side of negotiation that goes against the grain of the more preferred view of negotiation as a straightforward, ethically clean and rational enterprise. This article suggests the necessity and importance of those strategies in order to make deals work in the real world.


The Obama Presidency and the Future of the Conflict Management Business: The Mediative Leader and the Activist Mediator, Nov 2008

While premature to presume, there is cause to believe, or at least to hope, based on the model of his presidential campaign that the leadership style and governance of President-Elect Barack Obama will be a boon to conflict management practice and a valuable endorsement of mediation.

Conflict Mediation In The Age Of Financial Cholera: Marketing Opportunities In The Midst Of Crisis, Nov 2008

The current recession appears to be a long and deep one. Banks, businesses and people may be a bit more disposed to consider creative ways to solve financial problems especially when legal remedies are largely unavailable or ineffectual. This article discusses potential markets and suggests strategies for selling mediation.

People I Hate, Negotiation and the Presidential Election, Sept 2008


What is the "right stuff" to mediate or negotiate with people whose values you detest and actions you hate? How the current presidential election tests our principles and thinking about negotiation and lessons to be learned from history.

The Dirty, Risky Business of Negotiation: Ideology and the Risk of Appeasement, June 2008

Fighting has the edge over negotiation as the first inclination of most people when faced with conflict. Our human brain chemistry lubricates the preference for warfare and the use of force, while negotiation, by contrast, requires a willed, determined and conscious effort.

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