When I started managing and travelling with bands in 2007 after 16 years at Universal and Warner Bros, I came to truly experience and understand the nature and variety of conflicts that occur in the artistic environment and gradually became aware that I had a gift for helping people resolve issues and disputes.
If they’d allow me, I could help those involved to safely discover and communicate their real needs and feelings in the context of the actual situation. I discovered that often it was nothing to do with the actual dispute - it was historical, or intense emotions were being caused by a seemingly unrelated situation and coming out sideways.
Conflicts can and will arise anywhere, that’s human nature - but it’s our choice whether to let conflict destroy things, or whether to address, explore and harness it, to make it work as a positive force.
The son of a Diplomat, I discovered that mediation - alternative dispute resolution - was a natural ability and that I could be helpful to others in this capacity. So in 2013 I formally qualified as a professional mediator with National Family Mediation and the London School Of Mediation. I put in my qualifying hours working as a Volunteer Community Mediator helping to resolve major disputes between neighbours - an incredibly difficult and moving process.
I realised that in my time as an artist manager particularly, I had already been using informal mediation skills to manage conflict; in fact, I was better at that side of things. Formal training and accreditation made it official and I decided to stop being a manager, to focus on these types of services - the "soft skills."
Since then I've facilitated numerous dispute resolution sessions in and around the music industry, travelling extensively to meet with people in their own environments whether it’s on tour, in a studio, in the office or at home.
Listening to all parties involved individually, diffusing the immediate tension and then getting to the core of the underlying issues in joint sessions is my main method, although I am flexible and can adapt to any given situation.
As an independent mediator, I am a neutral 3rd party with no stake in any outcome. I do not give advice or make suggestions. It is up to the parties in dispute to come up with their own solutions. It's my job to facilitate the process.
Drawing on my own life experience, 30 years of professional music industry experience, training with National Family Mediation and London School Of Mediation, and 10 years in practice, if there is a resolution to be reached, I am confident that I can help you uncover it.
Sometimes it's the small adjustments in attitude that can make the biggest difference.
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