Event Description:
Note: This session is via ZOOM. Waiting room opens at 8am, presentation begins at 8:30 am. To RSVP, email mvolpe@jjay.cuny.edu for link
The CUNY Dispute Resolution Center at John Jay College
and
The Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York
NYC-DR Virtual Roundtable Breakfast
Quakers use a non-hierarchical decision-making process based on finding “Unity,” the place where everyone says “Yes—we all agree to this because we are all inspired for it.” It is founded on the innate worth of every participant, the value of every person’s voice. This is the “Highest Common Denominator.” Tom Rothschild has developed a unique approach out of his experience over the last two decades as a lawyer, a mediator, and as a Quaker.
How does this process support the people of an organization—profit or non-profit, religious or secular—in finding their particular Unity? The key element lies in helping people listen to one another: Listen with respect for the other, past dislike or disagreement. Listen with an open ear, an open mind, even an open heart, without being caught in the binary logic that most of us learned in school which shouts at us, “I am right, therefore you must be wrong.” Listen past the words for the other person’s truth, so our combined and common truths can bring us together at the place of the Highest Common Denominator.
Join Tom for a participatory discussion, about this approach and its applications, both for organizations and in mediation.
Tom Rothschild has worked at the intersection of facilitation, mediation, and conflict resolution. He brings a unique perspective that helps organizations grow into a common unity – a community – of wholeness, purpose and direction, informed by his outlook and experience as a Quaker as well as fifty years of experience as a lawyer, first in public service in the Legal Services Program and later in private practice. He brings the vision that the way decisions are made has as much importance for forming community as the decisions themselves.
Tom is a member of the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section. He is a member of the NYS Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, as well as its Real Property and General Practice Sections. He has frequently been one of the facilitators in Commercial Mediation trainings and has offered his own trainings in conflict resolution and related areas. He is currently working on a project to provide affordable mediation for small residential landlords and tenants.
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