I love meeting new people and getting to know more about them. It is a wonderful perk of being a mediator. Extroverts get it.

Imagine my delight then, to be tapped as an interviewer for the prestigious International Academy of Mediators/Osgoode Professional Development Winkler Institute conference held October 1, "Critical Moments in Mediation."

I spoke with Angela J. Reddock-Wright, an esteemed colleague and powerhouse in the Los Angeles mediator community, about what shifts outcomes in mediation. Here's what Angela taught us all:

- showing up authentically when you are a mediator is brave, honest, and preserves energy. - tapping into the various facets of your identity and experience can help you build connection with the parties, and sincere connection is critical to putting people at ease. This is especially important in the sensitive situations that Angela regularly encounters as a mediator of cases involving race/sex discrimination and harassment allegations. - we often think of immutable characteristics when we use the term "diversity", but diversity also applies to our experiences. Angela has a richly diverse career and personal background that allows her to bridge multiple worlds and channel her influence in ways that assist parties to understand their options. - mediator ego is not a thing. When something does not land well, we pivot.

It was a joy to get to know Angela better in the course of preparing for this conference, and a privilege to be included among the faculty. I have already applied so much of what Angela shared to my own practice.

My deep gratitude to the Winkler Institute, the IAM, and conference chairs Alicia Kuin and J. Jay Rudolph for inviting me to be part of an excellent and thought-provoking conference.

I will post more insights from that day, but you can rewatch it on November 19.

Thanks to Jennifer Egsgard and Alicia Kuin for the photos!