What I’ve Been Reading

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 […]

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

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

This book is all about how we influence others, and how other people influence us. It is full of fascinating information, case studies and practical strategies. The chapters cover how our existing information impacts on our willingness to change our minds, the role of emotion, incentives and curiosity, the double-edged sword of agency, the impact

This book is a wealth of information and resources about how our brains work in conflict and how to work with them during conflict management and resolution. It includes well-researched and accessible content, as well as links to videos and other useful resources. The book introduces readers to foundational concepts in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, personality

I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity to read a final draft of this book before it’s officially published. I have been a huge fan of Michael’s work since reading his and Alison Taylor’s book The Making of a Mediator over 20 years ago. This book was a turning point in my approach

This book is not new, it’s been around since 2009, but it remains one of the few books about how to work with conflict that is not resolvable, or that may take many years to resolve. The book introduces the role of the conflict specialist (in contrast to the more limited ‘conflict resolver’ and their

This book, written by a physicist, a philosopher and a psychologist/lawyer  is basically about how to apply the “thinking tools” used by experts in these disciplines to everyday life and decision making. It’s about managing information overwhelm, and learning how to think.  The book developed from a UC Berkeley course called “Big Ideas” that taught

This book is about how we easily we become habituated to our surroundings, and how this can be problematic for many reasons (although it’s also practical in some ways). We can habituate to good things, and then reduce our appreciation of them. We can also habituate to bad things, and then become less motivated to

John Gottman is a very well known researcher in the field mental health and relationships. Julie, his wife, is an award winning psychologist. Together, they founded the Gottman Institute, which includes the “Love Lab” in which they have observed over 3,000 couples interact, especially when in conflict. Their analysis of these couples’ behaviours has enabled