I was struck, when practicing law, with how much of society's human talent and creative resources were being allocated to litigation processes that appeared to furnish little in the way of problem-solving outcomes. The results seemed certainly not commensurate with the amount of effort invested.

I was led to explore what other processes might be used and where they might be appropriate. It occurred to me that throughout society, in every kind of relationship, differences would arise reflecting the differences in people's genetic make-up, backgrounds, viewpoints, interests, and the like. While conflicts are inevitable, they are neither good nor bad by themselves. What we need to do as a society is to find better ways of managing conflicts—to draw out constructive solutions from the creative tensions that might produce better outcomes.