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Mediate.com Podcast Episode 28: Intercultural Communication and Envisioning a Culture of Peace

More and more, we are a connected world.  So when it comes to intercultural communication…Is it what you say? Or how you say it? Or both? In this episode, Veronica talks with Lynn Cole–founder and CEO of BRDGES Academy–about intercultural communication and why mediators need this skill. Episode highlights include:

  • How culture is defined.
  • A discussion of how culture influences communication and “communication norms” in various cultures.
  • How mediators can learn cultural aspects before a mediation.
  • Lynn’s prior experience in speaking to the United Nations about mediation as an effective global conflict resolution tool.
  • And more!

About Lynn Cole:

Lynn Cole is President of the Law Offices of Lynn Cole, LLC. She also is the founder and CEO of BRDGES Academy (Building Resolutions for Disputes Globally with E-learning Strategies) where the global focus is on developing core intercultural competencies for conflict resolution practitioners worldwide. Having previously served as both a federal and state trial attorney, Ms. Cole has been a full-time mediator and mediation trainer who is Harvard and Florida trained in mediation. She is mediation certified in Florida (Circuit Civil) and is an interculturally designated and certified neutral for the International Mediation Institute (“IMI”) in The Hague. 

Ms. Cole served as a USAID Mediation/ADR Specialist for over 10 years designing Court-Related Mediation Programs in Bulgaria, Kosovo, Jordan, and Sri Lanka.  For over three years and until March 1, 2014, she served as the President and Chair of the Board of Directors for Mediators Beyond Borders, International and still serves on the board. In May 2011, she spoke to the United Nations about mediation as an effective global conflict resolution tool within global communities. She is a recognized author on the explosive global growth of international mediation. She has lectured and trained extensively internationally in Commercial Mediation; Ethics; Basic and Advanced Mediation; and, Community Mediation, and has taught mediation courses domestically and internationally for students in Universities and Law Schools worldwide, and formerly as an Adjunct Professor at Stetson College of Law. Over the last 17 years, she has conducted in-person mediation training for judges, attorneys and mediators from Canada, Jordan, Oman, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Greece, Tunisia, Cypress, Kosovo, Turkey, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

She has a full-time, private mediation practice in Florida and is listed with the U.S. Court for the Middle District of Florida and 13th Judicial Circuit as an Arbitrator and Mediator. She successfully has mediated and arbitrated many hundreds of court and pre-litigation cases in labor and employment and all types of contract and commercial cases. She is an invited member of select international organizations as an invited neutral, including the American Arbitration Association, the International Chamber of Commerce, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, “NADN.”  

She formerly has served as an Adjunct Professor and serves on the Faculty of BRDGES Academy teaching Intercultural Communications and Cultural Dimensions.

Email: [email protected]

BRDGES Academy website: https://brdgesacademy.com/

                        author

Lynn Cole

Ms. Cole is a former President and Chair of the Board Mediators Beyond Borders International and has been a force for mediation over the past several decades. In the early 1990s as Chair of the Civil Justice Reform Act Commission, she recommended to the Federal Judges in the Middle District… MORE >

                        author

Veronica Cravener

Veronica Cravener is a mediator and trainer for Mediate to Achieve, LLC, based in Columbus, Ohio, USA.  She has mediated more than 500 disputes across areas such as landlord-tenant, contracts, consumer-business, personal injury, neighbors, individual disputes over money, and post-employment disputes.  She is experienced at mediating by text message in… MORE >

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