Thoughts and Insights by Michael Gregory

Ten tips to overcome difficult conversations

Have you been in a conflict or dispute with someone else and felt you were 100% right and that they were 100% wrong? Did it ever occur to you that, just maybe you were not 100% right. The easy decisions in life are truly yes-no decisions. However, the more difficult decisions and controversies tend to have shades of gray associated with them. You may perceive the other party as being difficult and you may be trying to determine how to deal with difficult people. This commentary explores steps you can take when you are in a strong disagreement with someone else. Instead of digging in and reinforcing your position, explore these ten tips to overcome difficult conversations

May 27, 2022, Michael Gregory’s Weekly Leadership Roundup

Leadership, Collaboration, Conflict Resolution  

Business valuation experts are biased and so are you – so what do you do?

Four experts in behavioral finance conducted extensive research and wrote an article entitled, “Are Business Valuators Biased? A Psychological Perspective on the Causes of Valuation Disputes.”  This article explores the insights gained from their research. In short, yes, business valuers are biased on at least three levels. When given a number from a client as to what the client thinks, that is an “anchor” bias or when knowing the client is a buyer or seller that is called engagement bias to have a lower or higher number. Cognitive bias impacts the number supplied by the business valuer. When considering whether the business valuer is biased or not 58.7% believed the other side was biased and 25.1% believed that they were biased. Your bias can hurt or harm you during a negotiation on your conclusion of value too. Using your bias can be an advantage in a negotiation sometimes too.

May 20, 2022, Michael Gregory’s Weekly Leadership Roundup

Leadership, Collaboration, Conflict Resolution  

What does it mean to disagree well?

To encourage collaboration, healthy competition, and overcome conflicts and disputes one technique you can apply is to disagree well. You like many in our society today appreciate monologues that are provided to you by those with whom you agree to reaffirm positions, how smart you are, and how angry you should be with those that do not share that same perspective. The classic example in our society today has to do with reds and blues in our current political environment. Braver Angels offers an opportunity to overcome these differences with dialogue. This is one example of how to disagree well. The commentary that follows addresses the issue of what does it mean to disagree well.

May 13, 2022, Michael Gregory’s Weekly Leadership Roundup

Leadership, Collaboration, Conflict Resolution  

The games people play in negotiations and mediations and how to address them

To avoid conflicts and to help resolve disputes in a negotiation or a mediation it is important to know your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) and to consider the other party’s BATNA in order to work to resolve the situation. Before entering into the situation knowing that if your BATNA is not met you will simply walk away gives you room to exercise your own power. Knowing that you have tried your best to work with the other side, but what has been offered will not be acceptable so you need to move on This article explores how knowing your BATNA and what to consider can help you in a negotiation. It is important to understand why negotiations fail.

May 6, 2022, Michael Gregory’s Weekly Leadership Roundup

Leadership, Collaboration, Conflict Resolution  

How amazing that our brain can adapt to address conflict and promote collaboration

You may believe that you cannot control your anger. You may believe that conflict and disputes are fixed in our brains. However, our brains are unique in that they are the only organ that has the ability to change and adapt. This is called neuroplasticity. Some interesting research has found how our brains can adapt even when up to half of the brain is missing. Now think about this from the perspective on how your brain can adapt and change when addressing conflict or a dispute.

April 29, 2022, Michael Gregory’s Weekly Leadership Roundup

Leadership, Collaboration, Conflict Resolution