The Shewale Journal
Mediation CraftFebruary 20266 min read
On asking the second question.
The opening position is almost never the real position. A short reflection on the discipline of waiting through the first round of statements.
Every dispute opens with a prepared statement. Both parties have rehearsed it, often with counsel, sometimes for weeks. To negotiate against that statement is to negotiate against the rehearsal, not the underlying interest.
The discipline is to wait. Let the first round complete. Take notes silently. Ask one clarifying question at the end of each statement — not to challenge, but to confirm.
The second question — the one asked twenty minutes later, after the room has settled — is almost always the one that opens the actual conversation.
End of essay · Mediation Craft