Most know Mediation as a non-adversarial confidential process whereby a neutral third party — the Mediator — facilitates communications, discussions, and negotiations between and among parties who find themselves in a dispute.

Despite what most people tend to think, research shows most disputes are not zero-sum games. The Mediator can actually help the parties identify core interests and risks, and thus seeks to find solutions through guided negotiations, which helps the parties achieve their interests in a win-win state of affairs.

What holds true in disputes can actually also be translated in a commercial deal-making environment. Here also parties all too often find themselves stuck in a distributive bargaining mind-set whereby it is held that what one side gains, the other loses.