In an article I wrote for the CIArb International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management called The ‘Everywhen’ Mediator, I likened being a mediator to being a photographer.

Mediators and photographers are both “looking for the detail that makes the picture; looking for the point of balance which is a reconciliation between several elements; reframing; editing; putting people at ease within a context that shows them off to their best advantage. If you get all these right then any shortcomings on the technical side fade away.”

One of the observations I made from my research data is that a very high proportion of the top mediators that I interviewed for my research also had a creative strength: singing, music, art, cooking, dancing, there were many. This insight took me down a path of enquiry which revealed substantive evidence of a link between creative pursuits and excellent mediation/negotiation skills. More on this topic shortly…

In the meantime, here are a few photos from London taken on Sunday 6 April during a wonderful snow fall!