Cambridge Business Association
Getting to Resolution
Book

Getting to Resolution

Turning Conflict Into Collaboration

Stewart Levine
Berrett-Koehler, 1998
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Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Overview
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Recommendation

Reluctant attorney Stewart Levine provides a rational framework to justify spending his life avoiding conflict and confrontation. Even in the business world, he takes a pass on legal action and other logical ways of fighting back in a conflict. Instead, when opinions differ and arguments flourish, he seeks a higher course of reconciliation and collaboration. His seven-step resolution process saves time and money, launders egos, and advances clarity. Although each chapter is summed up almost too tidily in a final paragraph, or even a final sentence, Levine does not stint. In each chapter, he shares real world examples from his life and career. getAbstract recommends this book to anyone who wants to rationalize a business deal based solely on trust, to anyone searching for a deal-making scenario where lawyers are not invited, and to people who are looking for the words to express their desire to just get along.

Summary

Becoming a Resolutionary

The intern had never practiced law before. His first day he was handed a pile of cases. He did not bother to check the law or precedents. He called each party and each party’s attorney and offered to negotiate a settlement. The intern was satisfied with each and every negotiation. When he went to get more files, the veteran attorney he reported to could not believe he had completed his tasks so fast.

"You said to take care of these," the intern said. "I resolved the conflicts."

"That’s not how we do it," the veteran attorney replied.

As you can already detect, you might have many good reasons to become a "resolutionary." But first, try to change your thinking about conflict. You must develop a new perspective that allows you to avoid the emotional hassles of conflict, the cost of unproductive energy, and the waste of resources. You must learn a new set of principles and values.

No matter how hopeless it feels, no matter how strong your emotional impulse to fight and win, resolution can be discovered within any situation. Instead of concentrating on fighting, problems, and breakdowns, concentrate on learning, creativity, and...

About the Author

Stewart Levine is the founder of ResolutionWorks, a company that provides workshops, consulting, and motivational materials to change the way conflict is resolved. His clients have included American Express, Caterpillar Corporation, Chevron, General Motors, and Oracle. He is an attorney and a graduate of the Maxwell School of Economics at Syracuse University.

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