In addition to talking plenty about mediation, I also want to touch upon a few other ingredients that are, I believe, needed for the mediation field to be optimized: Leadership and Teamwork.
When it comes to leadership and teamwork, I was wonderfully advantaged to have had my dad, Jack, as a powerful model.
The photograph above, from 1930 when my dad was the 3 year-old “baby” of the family, also shows my uncles Milt, Myron and Abe. These were the four sons of Izzie and Minnie Melamed, who immigrated to the U.S. from Lithuania in 1917 under threat of ongoing pogroms against Jews. Most of Izzie’s and Minnie’s respective families were killed in the pogroms. While neither Izzie nor Minnie were able to finish high school and were also first cousins, their four U.S. born boys went on to become three radiologists and a lawyer. It is an “American story.”
My grandparents Izzie (Israel) and Minnie Melamed
“Only in America” could this happen, Jack, my dad, would share with me. If ever there was a family that has benefitted from the democracy and meritocracy that “is” (or at least “has been”) America, it is the Melamed family. My read is that our family’s dedication to education and hard work, along with affordable state universities, were the secret sauce that created so many wonderful results for the Melamed clan.
My dad, Jack Melamed
The surname Melamed (מְלַמֵּד) is of Hebrew origin and has a clear meaning in Jewish tradition.
So, when you see the name Melamed, it likely originates from an ancestor whose occupation was teaching—similar to how surnames like Schneider (tailor) or Baker reflect professions.
In summary: Melamed = Teacher (usually of Torah or Jewish studies).
Would you like me to also explain the different variations of the name (like Lamed, Lamdan, or Lehrer) that appeared in different Jewish communities?
Jim Melamed: No thanks. However, I do appreciate this handy example of optimizing available AI information!
(Time required for this ChatGPT inquiry and response: 15 seconds)
Now nearing 70 years old, I find myself “looking back” more and more. In this regard, it is with increasing appreciation that I now see how helpful it was to have my dad as a teamwork and leadership model. Jack, my dad, did not preach, so much as “do.”
I am not sure exactly how all this fits in to an “optimizing model of mediation,” but one thing I do believe is that optimization is benefited by exemplary models that one can learn from. This has me wondering also about optimized mentorship programs for the mediation field. Let’s remember this as we talk about both the constructive use of AI in mediation and also the best organizational structure and leadership for the mediation field.
My dad literally “wrote the book”
I now more fully realize how my dad hitched his career to an emerging technology of his day. In his case, it was radiology. My dad ran the Grant Hospital (Chicago) Radiology Department (near Lincoln Park) for over 25 years. Jack worked with his brother, Mike, as co-Directors of the radiology department, that is until Mike rather tragically died of leukemia at age 50.
Leadership is action, not position.
Abraham Lincoln
Continuing with our mediation break, my uncle Mike did not have a son, and as I lived close by, we developed an annual ritual of going to a Cubs game and sitting in the box seats right behind the Cubs dugout. These were the days when you could get a hot dog, drink and Cracker Jack all for $3.
Ernie Banks and his statue at Wrigley Field
My Uncle Mike and I were both huge Ernie Banks fans. For those of you who might not know, Ernie he was one of the first black players in the major leagues, signing on with the Cubs in 1953. Despite the racism and civil rights issues of the day, there was never a more optimistic and joyful player (and model) than Ernie Banks. Ernie’s most famous phrase was, “Let’s Play Two Today.”
One day, my wife, Carmen, surprised me with an Ernie Banks rookie card and signed baseball that says, “Let’s Play Two.” Apparently, when one of Carmen’s friends at the University of Oregon Athletic Department heard of my reverence for Ernie for his optimistic leadership, that colleague passed on to me (through Carmen) an Ernie Banks rookie baseball card and the below pictured and signed baseball. The colleague said that his own children did not have proper appreciation and reverence for Ernie and that he was pleased to pass these mementos on to me. Sitting on the shelf by my desk, they remind me every day of the importance of optimistic leadership.
Ernie Banks rookie card and ball
My dad went on to live to the ripe old age of 93, including 10 years of post-retirement national Board work with “People for the American Way.” Jack loved that Norman Lear, who was the founder of “People,” was on the Board. Mr. Lear had paid for and contributed a copy of the U.S. Constitution to “People.” Jack also loved that his favorite actress, Kathleen Turner, was on the “People” board.
Inspired by “People’s” national advocacy, I am more and more thinking that it would be a big positive for the optimizing online mediation field, and for our society, to create and have a national and/or international mediation advocacy organization. In my wildest dreams, it would be great to have numerous other national organizations, like “People,” join with our national mediation advocacy to further expand and elevate mediation. What could be more “American” than optimized problem-solving? We have a fantastic “product to sell!”
My dad, Jack Melamed, with Norman Lear
In addition to modeling hard work and integrity, I now marvel that my dad started out in radiology when x-rays were still being hand-dipped in developer and fixer and hung up to dry. Before long, Kodak figured out how to more speedily develop and dry x-rays. I remember my dad taking great pride in his department’s steady increase in the “volume” of x-rays that the department was able to daily process. This reminds me of John Helie and yours truly watching our online traffic statistics steadily grow after we first established Mediate.com.
Perhaps my dad’s proudest moment was when his department was awarded the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine in the City of Chicago.
Looking back on it all now, and thinking about my own career at the intersection of mediation and technology, I can now better understand my dad’s fascination with radiologic technical development and the satisfaction that he got from his progressive work. I too have been fascinated and joyful, if not blown away, by the amazing technical developments that I have witnessed, and also now the accelerating rate of online development. Now, with online mediation already firmly established, AI is poised to “blow the roof off” in terms of the growth of online mediation.
I also find it a bit amusing that the x-rays that my dad would leave home at 6 am to go read at the hospital, or stay late as needed, are now commonly read by radiologists either on their home computers or now often in India. Even more remarkably, these x-rays are also now increasingly “read by AI” and, in many cases, AI is doing a better job than humans. This is particularly true for routine exams such as mammograms. What used to be “films” are now “files,” and these files are now increasingly first reviewed by AI to determine if a further “human look” is warranted.
The Melamed Family in 2020. Lots to be proud of!
Originally published in: FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 59 No. 4, October 2021 831–839, doi: 10.1111/fcre.12612 © 2021 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. Questions? Contact: [email protected] This book review of...
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