First, thank you to the many people who reached out for my mom’s birthday. We had several small parties at her apartment, and she was thrilled. Meanwhile, I’ve been following Dan Rather on Substack. Last week, he posted a video I hadn’t seen before, of country music star, Tim McGraw, singing “Always Be Humble and Kind.” The song is, in itself, humble and kind, and the images in the video, which come from Oprah’s television series, “Belief,” are simply stunning. … read more »

Sometimes when I am working with couples in conflict, I think, “Oh, they care about each other so much, it’s too bad that they can’t stay together.” And sometimes I wonder, “How did they ever get together in the first place?” I’ve been aware of this dichotomy for some time but have not really thought about what would trigger these different reactions in me. Then, around Valentine’s Day, I heard an episode of the LifeKit podcast about John and Julie … read more »

CNN recently published this photo of President Biden, taken on his way to Camp David last weekend. The book he is holding is Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict the newest book by William Ury, who was a coauthor of Getting to Yes, which is one of the foundational books of conflict resolution. Ury, who often works with seemingly intractable conflicts, was challenged to distill his 50-year career to one sentence. Here’s what he came … read more »

For the last 11 years, I’ve been honored to run the estate of the late, great bandleader, Count Basie. One of the undisputed joys of this assignment has been getting to know the leadership of the Count Basie Orchestra and getting to hear the Band whenever they’re in town. And I’m thrilled to let you know that they’ve just won a Grammy Award for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album for Basie Swings the Blues, which came out last year. Count … read more »

I’m working with a tech coach who is helping me simplify my work life by automating procedures. It turns out that simplifying things is very complicated. She’s talking to me about SOPs – Standard Operating Procedures. These are really kind of checklists. I remember being very impressed by Dr. Atul Gawande’s book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right when it came out in 2011. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon. You (or at least I) kind of hope that … read more »

I am posting this shortly before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. I also realized that it was 40 years ago this month that I had the great good fortune to take a seminar on Mahatma Gandhi at Harvard Divinity School, taught by Professors Diana Eck, Lakshmi Jain, and Devaki Jain. The Jains, who were visiting professors that year, had “walked with Gandhi” and dedicated their lives to applying his teachings in modern India. I was so lucky to study … read more »

Mark V. Bullock interviewed me for his YouTube Channel, Inspiring Business a few weeks ago, and it’s available now. I’ve known Mark for several years as he helps several NYC independent mediators market their services. Although it’s called “Fair is a 4-Letter Word,” he was actually interested in my path to becoming a divorce mediator (including my foray into divinity school and how that connects to what I do today.) As always, I love to hear from you. Stay in … read more »

Darryl was a wonderful person, but his outlook on the world was a little akin to Eeyore’s. So back when I was doing criminal defense for kids and was telling him stories about my clients over the dinner table, (“Yes, he stole a pizza delivery bike but he only rode it a few blocks and he’s such a cute little kid.” or “Can you believe the cops arrested her? She only tried to sell them $5 worth of crack!”), he … read more »

Last week I said that September feels like the beginning of the year, and this blog post is actually going to go out on Rosh Hashona, so for Jews, it really is. I’ll go over to my Mom’s house tonight and we will have apples and honey. Round things symbolize the circle of life and sweet things to hope for a sweet new year. She will also have a pomegranate – its many seeds represent the many good deeds we … read more »