A mediator is an impartial outsider who tries to aid the negotiators in their quest to find a compromise agreement.

A lot depends on the starting point.

The party that negotiates in haste is often at a disadvantage.

There is no shortage of disputes.

It is always amazing to see how wide a spectrum of results can be obtained from replicating an identical negotiation with different principal actors; it makes no difference whether there subjects are inexperienced or whether they are senior executives and young presidents of business firms. That is an important lesson to be learned here.

It's easy, of course, for two teams to collude, but somewhat more difficult for twenty-eight

A final word of advice: don't gloat about how well you have done.