Waiting at Logan Airport to catch a flight out. Wrapping up a fantastic weekend in Boston with fellow Insight Collaborative (IC) Finalists. IC has managed to make being a “finalist” great fun, regardless of the outcome.
After a pretty straightforward interview with David Seibel, Founder, and one of their consultants, Larissa McWhinney, I spent a lovely couple of hours walking through Boston Commons up to Beacon Hill and dining at the Paramount Cafe (delicious servings of waffles, spinach & feta omelettes and diner coffee). We were also put up at the Omni Hotel, which is both glamarous Old Boston and haunted. I also met up with Apolo Ndyabahika, fellow Project Diaspora team member, and his sister and uncle. We drove around rainy Boston while I drooled over MIT and Harvard.
Dinner at the Omni. A bit of a gruelling round table situation & a lot of running through CVs in three-minute soundbites while trying to remain interesting. Always good practice, regardless, for similar situations in the future. Followed by blueberry pints at the Bean-something Irish bar down the street. St. Patrick’s Day starts early here.
Today was definitely the highlight of the weekend. We did a three hour workshop with Seibel and two of his consultants. The focus was Alternative Dispute Resolution and we used a fun, yet slightly stressful, Harvard Mediation Program devised system. Human nature revealed in a hypothetical situation of WinBells, a mango-papaya-kiwi-tasting-fruit. The theory following this exercise was a little embarrassing in the sense of how it revealed our personal and cultural priorities.
Basically, we can look at two types of conflict resolution. One is the common form of haggling. In Uganda, this takes the clear shape of: “What’s your best price” – “(enter over priced mzungu cost”) – “No, I give you X. That’s ridiculously too expensive and that’s the best I can do.” – “You are my first customer, so I’ll give you a better price. Promote me. Enter slightly lower number.” – “What?! That’s insane! I’ve been living here for months. Come on, give me a local price. Enter lower number. And walk away if you get a no (bluff).” You get the point.
However, there appears to be a whole other format for conflict resolution. This doesn’t apply to haggling in Ugandan markets, but for high-level business interaction or even personal disputes, there is some serious wisdom in this model. The process, which is better described in Getting to Yes, is focused on discussing the other person’s interests (the why?), options (ways to meet the person’s interests), legitimacy (objective criteria to evaluate options. Like the going price for X or Y) – instead of the typical, “my choice or the highway.” Apparently it works in all regions – from Oslo to Baghdad to Boston.
I can’t do the workshop any justice from over here, but I strongly recommend applying for the fellowship next year simply for this portion.
