Disappearing Bust of Voltaire by Salvador Dali 1941 - may need to squint to see the ambiguity

Apparently, God did indeed bless the Irish not least with a love of ambiguity which is seen as key to future innovation, according to a recently published research on siliconrepublic.com. Hat tip to @3keyscoach for the link via Twitter this week.

Results from a sample of 117 Irish executives and entrepreneurs indicated a substantial bias towards right-brained cognition when compared with international norms.

Right-brained thinking, towards which the sample showed a preference, includes attributes such as intuition, the ability to make seemingly unrelated connections and tolerance of ambiguity. Ambiguity and the ability to hold incongruent ideas without stress is regarded as inherent to entrepreneurial activity because start-up businesses are often original, innovative ideas that require people who can think laterally and see the bigger picture.

These attributes also appeared frequently in my research into the profile of an effective mediator.

It also reminds me of a story from my very early career. I had just left university and was working in my family’s business. I was given the “deadly” job of credit control. There was a large amount outstanding from a household name and no one had been able to get to the bottom of it and so I saw this as a way to impress my father who was decidedly difficult to impress.

I did hours of research and number crunching and finally, I found where the error was. Rather pleased, I rang the accounts department of said household name company which was in Ireland. I went through the steps with the accounts lady that I had carefully prepared and which I thought would lead her to the same realization. And then they would send me a cheque.

It took about 20 minutes and at the end she said to me in a very calm and sincere tone

Is this money we owe you or money you owe us?

That was not quite the end of the conversation but very nearly. I was floored. When I told my father he simply roared with laughter and retold the story many times. So I guess I got to impress him if not in the way I had intended! I thought that I had not explained myself very well but perhaps it was the Irish love of ambiguity.

For more on entrepreneurship, innovation and creative business skills, check out the Mediation Business Summit

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When I started my full-time mediation practice in the mid 90’s, I wish there had been this kind of resource to get me going; to challenge and support my thinking about how, what and why. It is great to be a pioneer but sometimes it is equally rewarding to build on what others have done and miss out on the not so great learning experiences!

This is a unique opportunity to hear what other pioneers have done and take the best and most relevant advice to build your own unique brand and business which speaks to your own strengths.

Do join us and register now. On completing your sign-up you will receive a fantastic collection of bonus gifts from our speakers to introduce you to their great advice and perspective on building a business in a digital world.

Wanting to have the toffee AND keep the penny

A recent article in The Daily Breeze (Ca. USA) brought to light the extraordinary story of a mediator who had to think for a very long time before she realised that she should recuse herself from a mediation which involved a party who had made contributions to her political fund. Of course press reports should be viewed with a certain amount of circumspection as they rarely present the whole story.

However, I was interested to read further comment in another local Californian newspaper Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA which points out the risks of hesitating on this kind of matter. A conflict of interests is a conflict of interests only if it is perceived as one. It is not a conflict of facts…

As mediators, our currency is perception. The perception of trustworthiness and the perception of experience amongst other things. So to mess with any kind of perception is to mess with the only things we have of value. They are intangible value: real, rare and fragile all at the same time. Just like anything of worth having.

At 11am on Tuesday 9th February there will be an Adjournment Debate in Parliament on the government’s conflict prevention policy.

Adjournment debates are decided by ballot throught he Speaker’s Office. Private members, in this case MP Simon Hughes, who is also the co-chair of the All Party Group on Conflict Issues, request a slot for their chosen subject. During the 90 minute time allocation questions are put to a minister on that chosen subject. Answers will be sought to questions about government spending on conflict prevention, progress on developing a coherent, funded conflict policy, effective measurement of  conflict prevention initiatives and supporting local initiatives in high risk regions.

In recent times, high level members of the armed forces have spoken out about their concerns that there are not enough trained personnel or other resources to deal with the realities of conflict in areas around the world. Interestingly, their focus has not just been about weapons and helicopters.

In January 2010, General Sir David Richards, Chief of the General Staff, addressed the International Institute for Strategic Studies on “Future Conflict and Its Prevention.”

He said

We must put much more emphasis on preventing conflict, on ensuring fragile states do not become the Afghanistan of tomorrow. Whilst this is much more than a military role, we must be structured and resourced to play what can often be a key part.  Hi-tech weapons platforms are not a good way to help stabilise tottering states – nor might their cost leave us any money to help in any other way – any more than they impress opponents equipped with weapons costing a fraction. We must get this balance right.

2007 Report by the Department For International Development

In March 2007 The Department for International Development (DFID) published a report called Preventing Conflict. It is an excellent report and worth reading. Two things stood out for me in this report. The first is in the preface by Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP

By 2010, half the world’s poorest people could be living in states that are experiencing, or at risk of, violent conflict.

And

Politicised allocation of water and land fuels low level conflict which can spark major violence.

The debate will be televised live and will also be available to view at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Home.aspx

A transcript will be made available after the debate, often the day after on www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmhansrd.htm

90 minutes in Parliament is a long time! Lets hope that this raises the profile of an incredibly important All Party Group and that there will be something worthwhile to report.

This evening I joined Tammy Lenski, Diane Levin and Jeff Thompson in the second of our Cafe Mediate conversations. We had a lively and fun debate round “what makes a great mediator?”

Thanks to all for some great insights and raising some interesting questions.You can find more of their thinking and ideas on their blogs.

For some further thoughts and perspectives on what makes a great mediator, I recommend IBA Survey Results posted at The Mediator Magazine penned by journalist Matt Rushton and my own research available from the archives on this blog Part 1 and Part 2.

I hope you enjoy the podcast. It lasts about 30 minutes. You will also find our first conversation Value-Based Billing which looks at how we might reconfigure the way we charge for mediation to reflect more closely and more clearly the value that mediation brings.