“The Careful Communicator” ~ A collection of grammatical misadventures!
THE CAREFUL COMMUNICATOR #1 This posting is the first step in a leisurely stroll through skillful English usage. Over the years I have collected an odd assortment of grammatical misadventures, English language faux pas, verbal slips and communication oddities. I share them in the hope that they may prove both edifying and entertaining. I begin with my favorite. “BETWEEN YOU AND I” – To the trained ear, this construction is roughly equivalent to fingernails being dragged across a blackboard. One can only assume that, as children, those who speak thus must have been chastised for saying, “You and me went to town.” Having been so chastised, they became gun shy of “me” when used in conjunction with “you and.” They…
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A Soft-Side Syllabus for Hard-Side Advisors
We jest that life insurance agents push insurance as the global panacea for whatever the client’s unmet needs may be. But that mindset is not limited to insurance agents. We in the helping professions are sore tempted to resolve client’s problems with what we’re licensed to charge for. The client’s problem is legal and requires competent counsel. The client’s problem is emotional or relational and requires therapy. The client’s problem is financial and requires accounting or investment expertise. The client’s problem lies within my professional ambit and requires me. In the course of their education or training too many therapists become averse to business, law and finance. Hard-side realities get shunted aside in therapy. In the course of our…
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“Certification of Authority:”Amendments to Rule 1.720, Fla. R. Civ. P.
Redefining “Attendance” and “Authority.” Since the opinion was published there has been a lot of discussion with respect to the amendment to mediation procedures set forth in Rule 1.720, Fla. R. Civ. P, effective January 1, 2012. The amendment redefines party attendance/authority and significantly, requires that the parties file a “certification of authority,” 10 days prior to appearing at a mediation conference, identifying the person or persons who will be attending the mediation conference as a party representative or as an insurance carrier representative, and confirming that those persons have the authority required by the amended rule. In the past I had advised parties concerned about these issues to ask for this information in advance of mediation and incorporate these…
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Florida’s Foreclosure Mediation Program – A flower or a weed?
Boy has the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program in Florida come under fire lately. This morning I read a blog written by Roger Benson that just skewers it. Benson claims that the only group benefitting from the program is “banks and other lenders.” There is one thing I know for sure in this world and that is lenders and banks would surely take issue with that statement. He also references “the enormous investment in time, resources and money made by The Florida Supreme Court.” Yes, the Court has spent considerable time through volunteer workgroups setting up and analyzing the program but Benson is wrong about where the money is coming from as it is NOT from the Court. …
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CAN WORK BECOME FUN?
“DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” By Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Trade (2011) A Post-It Note is likely within your arm’s reach. That ubiquitous stickie was invented by 3M scientist Art Fry during free time the company gave him to work on whatever he wished. Hope of extra pay (carrot) or fear of being fired (stick) may motivate workers with routine jobs like the checker at your supermarket. But carrot and stick doesn’t drive creative workers like Art Fry. Their motivation is internal. How a creative person feels while working on a project is the strongest and most pervasive driver. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “cheeks sent me high”) calls that feeling “flow”. In “flow” people live so…
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“BECAUSE IT FEELS SO GOOD WHEN I STOP!”
There’s an old joke that goes something like this: A man comes upon another man who is repeatedly hitting his thumb with a hammer. When asked why he’s beating his thumb to a pulp, the man with the hammer replies, “Because it feels so good when I stop!” While this may not be a shining example of humor, I think there’s a lesson in the joke that lends itself to mediation. Recently, my colleague Kimberly Sands posted an entry to this blog titled, “In Praise of the Opening Statement”. I agree wholeheartedly with her assessment of the importance of opening statements in mediation. At the threshold, though, mediators sometimes have to convince the parties and their counsel…
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