TED: W. Ury on Changing No to Yes

I remember reading William Ury's bestseller "Getting to Yes" several years ago when I was preparing to teach a business English communication class which included a unit on negotiation skills.

This TED talk focuses on how conflicts such as those in the Middle East can be solved and is highly relevant to the discussions we will have in Visions of the Future in the Winter ARW course at ICU.

Very impressive speaking skills, too. Nice anecdotes such as the story of the man who left 17 camels to his three sons, half for the first son, one third for the second son, and one-ninth for the third son. They couldn't figure out how to divide them until they asked a wise woman who lent them her camel. Suddenly, it was easy. 9, 6, 2, and one camel to give back to the woman. Interesting Pygmie? example of conflict resolution, too. Conflict resolutions studies in anthropology and cross-cultural communication must be fascinating to research.

Some key points are:

1) The third side is the key. The two conflicting parties need a mediator to help them go to the balcony and see the whole picture, to not lose sight of the mutual benefits of solving the conflict.

2) The Abraham Walk concept. To solve the ME conflict, the key is to focus on the common identity of Abraham. Hospitality toward strangers is a fundamental concept that children of Abraham, Jewish, Muslim or Christian, all share. Tourism that walks the international route of Abraham can help promote exchanges and economic development and lessen hostility.