Let's Talk About Conflict

I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

This episode is a conversation, not a lecture. Attorney-mediator Lynne Nash sits down with her longtime friend John Shipp — a civil attorney turned full-time neutral, and founder of Shipp ADR in Dallas — to pull back the curtain on what mediators and arbitrators actually do, and how the world of dispute resolution has changed since they both got started.

They dig into the shift from "alternative" dispute resolution to just dispute resolution (since trial now happens in a tiny fraction of cases), the move from facilitative to evaluative mediation styles, and why knowing your bottom line before you walk into a room matters more than any clever negotiating trick. John shares war stories from decades of practice — including scrambling to build a virtual mediation process from scratch in the early days of the pandemic — and the two swap thoughts on confidentiality, Zoom privacy settings, and why comfortable shoes might make for better decisions at the table.

In this episode:

• Why "alternative" dispute resolution stopped being much of an alternative
• Facilitative vs. evaluative mediation, and how the standard has shifted over 25 years
• Real negotiation habits that waste time — and how to avoid them
• Building a virtual mediation practice overnight during COVID
• Confidentiality and privacy practices for online mediation sessions

Lynne Nash is an attorney-mediator based in Dallas, Texas. John Shipp is a mediator and arbitrator with Shipp ADR, also based in Dallas — learn more at shippadr.com. This podcast is for informational purposes only and isn't legal advice.

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

Every parent of a teenager will eventually meet this moment, whether they've heard the term for it or not. In this episode, attorney-mediator and mom of four Lynne Nash talks about "soiling the nest" — the psychological term for the pushback, moodiness, and rule-testing that shows up in teens during that last stretch before they leave home — and why it's one of the biggest, least-talked-about conflicts in the parent-child relationship.

Speaking from her own experience raising four kids through this exact stage, Lynne walks through why this behavior is a normal (if painful) part of healthy maturation, not a sign that anything's gone wrong. She offers real, usable phrases for communicating through it, and lays out four things parents can lean on while they ride it out: understanding it's normal, communicating clearly and calmly, striving for patience, and deliberately handing over small doses of independence before the big departure.

In this episode:

• What "soiling the nest" is, psychologically, and why it shows up in that last year of high school
• Why this conflict is actually a sign of good parenting, not bad
• Specific phrases to use when your teenager pushes back or gets nasty
• Why giving small doses of independence early prevents bigger problems later
• Why this conflict, however painful, doesn't last forever

Lynne Nash is an attorney-mediator based in Dallas, Texas, and a mom of four. This podcast is for informational purposes only and isn't legal advice.

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

Not every conflict happens between two people — sometimes the toughest one is the one going on in your own head. In this episode, attorney-mediator Lynne Nash turns the lens inward to talk about internal conflict: that private, often invisible struggle over a decision, a desire, or a value that pulls you in two directions at once.

Lynne gets personal about her own pattern (after 28 years of marriage, her husband can spot it from a mile away) and walks through why internal conflict is normal, temporary, and manageable — as long as you don't cope with it through denial, avoidance, distortion, or blame, all of which quietly erode your relationships and even distort your own memory over time. She shares three practical tools she uses herself: resisting the urge to make a premature decision, testing a low-risk option out in the real world instead of looping it endlessly in your head, and a surprisingly effective writing exercise that ends with a trip to the shredder.

In this episode:

• What internal conflict actually is, psychologically speaking
• Why avoidance, denial, and blame make it worse over time
• Sitting with "I don't know yet" instead of forcing a premature decision
• Testing low-risk options in real life to break a mental loop
• The write-it-down-and-shred-it method for getting a conflict out of your head

Lynne Nash is an attorney-mediator based in Dallas, Texas, with a master's in conflict resolution. This podcast is for informational purposes only and isn't legal or therapeutic advice.

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

Fear shows up in nearly every conflict — and almost nobody wants to talk about it. In this episode, attorney-mediator Lynne Nash tackles fear head-on: what it actually is, why we need it, and how it quietly drives the decisions people make when they're in the middle of a dispute.

Lynne breaks fear down to its roots — a fundamental emotion triggered by the perception of imminent danger, wired into us for survival — and explains what happens when that wiring fires in situations that aren't actually life-threatening. Drawing on a quote from Seneca ("there are more things to alarm us than to harm us") and her own experience as a civil mediator, she unpacks how fear and its close cousin, frustration, are the real two "F-words" she sees driving people toward rushed, fear-based decisions in mediation.

She also offers a reframe that's become a personal touchstone: instead of FEAR meaning Freeze, Everything, And Run, think of it as Face, Everything, and Rise.

In this episode:

• The real definition of fear — and why it's not the enemy
• How fear fuels anxiety, doubt, and catastrophizing when there's no real danger
• Seneca's take on suffering in apprehension vs. reality
• The two "F-words" Lynne sees drive bad decisions in mediation
• A reframe for FEAR: Face, Everything, and Rise

Lynne Nash is an attorney-mediator based in Dallas, Texas, with a master's in conflict resolution. This podcast is for informational purposes only and isn't legal advice.

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

You've probably heard of BATNA — your best alternative to a negotiated agreement. But what about the worst one? In this episode, attorney-mediator Lynne Nash makes the case for why avoiding the worst-case scenario in a negotiation is actually setting you up to fail.

Drawing from Fisher and Ury's Getting to Yes and a formative law school course where she had to argue both sides of a motion without knowing which one she'd be assigned, Lynne breaks down WATNA — the Worst Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement — and why refusing to look at it leads people to make decisions out of fear instead of clarity. She shares a hard mediation story involving the death of a party mid-lawsuit, a sobering Seneca quote on rage and mortality, and a clear line between healthy worst-case planning and catastrophizing.

In this episode:

• What BATNA and WATNA actually mean — and why you need both
• Why "fear is the real F-word in a negotiation"
• A law school lesson in arguing both sides of an argument, blind
• The difference between realistic risk assessment and spiraling into worst-case thinking
• How knowing your worst-case outcome helps you build a real risk mitigation strategy

Lynne Nash is an attorney-mediator based in Dallas, Texas. As always — she's an attorney, not your attorney, and this podcast is for informational purposes, not legal advice.

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

Welcome to Season 4! In this kickoff episode, attorney-mediator Lynne Nash opens with a simple but often-overlooked truth: conflict is never really about the company, the school, or some faceless institution — it's always about people, and people are human. She digs into what "humanity" actually means, why being humane (compassionate, benevolent, kind) is hardest exactly when we need it most, and how a psychological concept called radical acceptance can help you pause instead of reacting from fight-or-flight.

Drawing on her full-time work as a civil mediator in Texas, Lynne shares a personal habit she's built: openly owning her own mistakes — "there goes my humanity" — and how that small act of honesty invites everyone else in the room to be a little more human too. It's a grounded, encouraging start to the season about giving yourself (and others) permission to be imperfect while still working toward resolution.

In this episode:

• Why conflict is always about people, never faceless institutions
• What it really means to be "humane," and why it's hard to access in the moment
• Radical acceptance: pausing to see the facts before reacting
• How owning your own mistakes gives others permission to be kind
• "Kindness costs you nothing, but a lack of kindness could cost you everything"

Lynne Nash is a full-time civil mediator and attorney based in Dallas, Texas. This podcast is for informational purposes only and isn't legal advice.

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

Welcome to Let's Talk About Conflict, where we explore the essential skills for navigating challenging conversations and managing ourselves during difficult moments. This podcast is to help our listeners build skills where they feel more capable of managing themselves within a conflict—and maybe others!

I’m your host, Lynne Nash, and today our episode is special. My conversation with author John Marks, previous best selling author, covers conflict resolution, building plans to avoid conflict, and the steps it takes to build a lasting process.

Through 11 working principles, Marks demonstrates the way his NGO, Search for Meaning—or “Search”—was started, maintained, and continues today even though he has stepped down from its leadership.

I firmly believe Need drives Change—so conflict is unavoidable. Here are some ways Marks as an applied visionary has worked to go through conflict and not avoid it. Listen to my conversation with John regarding things that went right, wrong, and everything in between. We will both encourage you again not to avoid conflict, but look for the skills to manage the conflict through time tested strategies.

Book: From Vision to Action: Remaking the World through Social Entrepreneurship. By John Marks

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

Welcome to Season 3 of Let's Talk About Conflict, where we explore the essential skills for navigating challenging conversations and managing ourselves during difficult moments. This podcast is to help our listeners build skills where they feel more capable of managing themselves within a conflict—and maybe others!

I’m your host, Lynne Nash, and today we're tackling a challenge that many of us face - dealing with toxic or difficult people in our lives, especially when avoiding them isn't an option.

Whether it's a colleague at work, a family member, or someone else we're required to interact with regularly, these relationships can drain our energy and test our conflict management skills to their limits.

What can compassion and empathy teach us when interacting with toxic people? Do you know the difference? Can you remember your personal value when dealing with the large demands made by toxic people?

This episode explores practical strategies for protecting your boundaries and maintaining your peace while navigating these challenging relationships and discuss how to recognize when you're being pulled into toxic patterns of interaction.

Study: Friedrich Schiller University: Toxic People stimuli study
Book: Holding the Calm by Hesha Abrams

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

Welcome to another episode of Let's Talk About Conflict, where we explore the essential skills for navigating challenging conversations and managing ourselves during difficult moments. This podcast is to help our listeners build skills which should help in managing themselves within a conflict—and maybe others!

I'm your host, Lynne Nash, and today we're exploring a powerful tool that's often overlooked in conflict resolution - silence.

Silence—can be incredibly powerful and holds a great amount of value in interactions. It's ironic that on a show about talking through conflict, we're focusing on the art of not speaking at all.

We'll dive into how strategic silence and genuine, active listening can transform heated moments, why our instinct to fill every pause might be sabotaging our negotiations, and how learning to embrace those quiet spaces can reveal solutions to conflict we might have otherwise missed.

Sometimes, the most impactful and useful thing we can say is nothing at all.

Book: The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Businessworld with Kindness by Thaler & Koval.

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I would love to hear from you ~ Lynne

Welcome to another episode of Let's Talk About Conflict, where we explore the essential skills for navigating challenging conversations and managing ourselves during difficult moments. This podcast is to help our listeners build skills in the area of conflict where they can feel more confident of their skills within a conflict—and maybe be able to help others!

Believe it or not, the actual words we say only account for 7% of how people interpret what we say. Instead, our TONE of voice in the way we say the words counts for about 38% of how information is understood by a listener, with body language being the largest conveyer of information.

Think the tone you use in saying something could be at the heart of how conflicts start?

This episode may change your mind. Listen to find out more about how our tone of voice allows others to comprehend the real message we are attempting to send. From aggressive to calm and everything in between, after this podcast, we hope you understand the way our tone of voice affects other’s ability to interpret what we are saying and what we actually mean.

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