When considering fruitful dialogue, that discussion that brings about good things, shared understanding, mutual insights, and even constructed goals and common ground, we often hit a wall. As we move forward, we feel that in one-on-one discussion, especially in dialogue and debate that touch on points of disagreement, somebody loses.

Let's look at winning. I'm not going to dis winning. Winning can be good First of all a game with a winner—like chess—can be great fun for both players. Whoops, I stepped outside of the game with a winner and included aspects outside the

Microeconomics has a reputation problem. People assume it's about money, markets, and math. The first microeconomics book I picked up had money and complicated graphs on the cover. But at its core, microeconomics is a theory of choice—and every conversation is built on choices. Before we can

Here is another way to look at the pie, and realize that, yes, the pie is a lie. Let's look at problems in negotiation and market share. Negotiation Harvard's Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School has done extensive research on what the call the

Zero-sum. Zero-sum. What is that all about? First the math and then the psychology. Zero-sum games In mathematics a zero-sum game analysis considers two states of a situation involving two or more variables, usually the state before an event and the state after that event. All variable values have the

In the second post in the pie series, we move to those "quantitative" pie charts.

Apple Pie is the teacher in the 1st post in the series asserting that the pie is a lie.