Lessons On Resolving Conflict.

A great video on conflict from William L. Ury co-founded Harvard's Program on Negotiation and is currently a Senior Fellow of the Harvard Negotiation Project.

With the Holidays upon us, it's a timely message. When we learn to resolve conflict peacefully and in a manner, we see positive change in the world around us.

“… normally when we think of conflict, when we describe it, there's always two sides. It's Arabs versus Israelis, labor versus management, husband versus wife, Republicans versus Democrats, but what we don't often see is that there's always a third side. And the third side of the conflict is us, it's the surrounding community, it's the friends, the allies, the family members, the neighbors. And we can play an incredibly constructive role. Perhaps the most fundamental way in which the third side can help is to remind the parties of what's really at stake. For the sake of the kids, for the sake of the family, for the sake of the community, for the sake of the future, let's stop fighting for a moment and start talking. Because, the thing is, when we're involved in conflict, it's very easy to lose perspective. It's very easy to react. Human beings: we're reaction machines. And as the saying goes, when angry, you will make the best speech you will ever regret. And so the third side reminds us of that. The third side helps us go to the balcony, which is a metaphor for a place of perspective, where we can keep our eyes on the prize”