#cartographyofnegotiation

[frontierdispatches]

LOCKED IN THE AUDIO BOOTH

First recording session of our Cartography of Negotiation audiobook.  That’s a bottle of kombucha in Becky’s hands, not beer (yet).

[frontierdispatches]

The Book is Coming.

Stay tuned.

[frontierdispatches]

Priming

If we tell you the things inside the box are good, you’ll be primed to look for the good in the things inside the box.

[frontierdispatches]

Civic Tech Has A New Home

SW will be delivering a keynote for the next Education Event for the Greater New York Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPIGNY) on February 4th. He’ll be speaking on his soon-to-be released book, The Cartography of Negotiation.

The event will be hosted at the brand new Civic Hall, a new home for the civic technology community in the heart of New York City. The space, located in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, features 18,500 square feet of state-of-the-art co-working and events space. The space is designed and operated by the brilliant folks of Personal Democracy Media and launched with support from our own Frontier Live team. You can register for the MPI event here.

If you’re not able to make the event but still want to see the events space at Civic Hall, contact us for details on the open house coffee at the end of February!

(image: Photo by Marina Villela)

[frontierdispatches]

The bravest of the French, undramatically living their daily lives

One can negotiate with terrorist organisations.  And sometimes with individual terrorists themselves.  But the only way to negotiate with terrorism as a phenomenon is to negotiate with ourselves.

Terror is not created by the deaths of 12 individuals.  But by the narratives of black hoods, Kalashnikovs, uncertain next steps.

The strongest individuals in France today are those who are not 'Charlie', but themselves.  Who are choosing not to be crippled with narrative-driven fear.  To sit in cafes in Paris, Lille, Strasbourg, Marseilles...  To talk.  To laugh. To read satire. To just be.  

Individual loss is tragic enough for those families.  Mass fear would be a dishonour to the beliefs and values of those satirists lost.

The end goal of these people is not the killing of small groups of people, but to terrorise continents of hundreds of millions of people.  We can deny that goal by negotiating away our own hysterics and returning to our rational selves.

The bravest of the French today are undramatically living their daily lives.  Gently suffocating the flames of terror.

[frontierdispatches]

Pulling agreement from the flames of hatred

A 2014 book worth reading in 2015 - Thirteen Days in September.

As our lives feel more complex, dependent on multiple parties and constant negotiation, it's  worth taking a deep look at a truly complex negotiation.  Lawrence Wright provides this in his in-depth analysis of the failings and successes of the Camp David Peace Negotiations.  

Great insights into how to get deeply opposed parties to lock themselves on a compound for a couple of weeks; get them to the table; hold them to the table; keep them talking when all looks like it's failed; and finally pull an agreement from the burning flames of hatred.  A robust, worthwhile read.  And a great complementary text to sit alongside the first Frontier handbook on negotiation to be published very soon.

Interested in more hands-on learning?  Jason and Mila will be teaching our Negotiation Workshop 13 January in RVA.  You can sign-up here.  

[frontierdispatches]

(re)Framing Fear

An illustration of why all great negotiators have graphic designers on their team.  A solid attempt to reframe the risks of Ebola, from an African perspective.

Source: Vox