WinCrafting

The book WinCrafting describes a breakthrough approach to being truly, profoundly and quickly effective in the presence of conflict. The WinCrafting approach ... which brings to the fore Ideas Whose Time Has Come ... replaces the old and outdated ideas which have failed the test of time, such as "win-lose," "conflict management," and "the adversary system." In this book, you will discover the steps which lead away from the pain and wasted time which are entailed in "traditional" approaches to "dealing with conflicts and problems." Instead, the new WinCrafting approach produces results which are deeply satisfying to everyone who is involved in a situation which people have been trained to think of as a "conflict, "dispute" or "problem." Words such as those are only labels! What you really have, when life presents you with a situation or circumstance to which such labels can be affixed, is raw materials, and you are going to create something with those raw materials! So, instead of using the "rules" of the reactive approaches, you can instead learn to use the role model of artists, and take full advantage of the creativity which indwells you! And as you begin to master that creativity, you can find a way to generate results (not only in the presence of "conflicts," but in such things as your relationships and educational and career paths!) which are, well, the author, John Rice, likes to call them Beautiful Music! This book is full of many of the stories of the thousands of people who John has worked with, over the decades of his WinCrafting practice, people who have created beautiful and inspiring things with those raw materials! The book also lays out the critical steps ... you simply MUST be aware of those if you want to walk away from the experiences people so often have when they are attempting to do such things as "manage conflict," with horrifying portions of their time being eaten alive by those situations, and living in a great deal of pain in the process.

The book WinCrafting is about creating profound levels of winning in every area of life which truly matters to an individual. The book begins by suggesting the phrase "The Beautiful Music Possibility" as a new METRIC, and also a new TERRITORY. When you look at each area of your life which you really care about, and consider the question, "How's it going?" ... is what you see as beautiful as the most beautiful music you've ever heard in your life, or something less than that? When an individual really does create "beautiful music" in their life (whether in a particular situation such as a conflict, or over the longer term, e.g., in their relationships and educational and career paths), there are ALWAYS three very specific steps which they have followed in order to have that happen. But people have not been taught what those steps ARE. For example, in the presence of conflict, people have been taught (for CENTURIES!) to wield ideas which are absolutely terrible soil in which to attempt to grow profound levels of winning. The author, John Rice, refers to these ideas ... such as "win-lose" and "managing conflict" ... as "ideas which have failed the test of time." A person MUST learn the NEW ideas (which are presented in detail in the book), ideas which are "good soil," and allow the planting and growth and blossoming of gorgeous and inspiring creations! John has given the name "WinCrafting" to that process. John suggests that, in terms of human history, we humans have been moving away from the notion that "survival" is all that matters, and deeply into a desire for THRIVING! If a person hopes to THRIVE during the course of their lifetime, they will have to become a PIONEER into the new Territory of The Beautiful Music Possibility. And just like Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery, they will need to pack along with them, as they venture out, the tools which a person MUST have in order to thrive in the new territory. (One of the most-used phrases during that earlier century was "Go West, Young Man" ... the book suggests that perhaps we can think about "Going Best, Young Man and Woman!") But in our modern age, the most important tools for the pioneers described in the book are not such things as shovels and weapons ... the most important tools for us now are IDEAS! And the WinCrafting ideas are absolutely essential to the creation of a pleasing and successful life in the new territory! The book first shares the ideas which are foundational, which a person must be aware of (and hopefully, master) in order to create profound levels of winning in their life and the lives of people around them, and in particular the people who are most dear to them. It then explains how to APPLY those ideas, beginning by being able to be EFFECTIVE ... truly, profoundly, and QUICKLY effective ... in the presence of conflict. And then the book proceeds to discuss how to best use those ideas in order to generate Beautiful Music in such areas as one's Relationships, and their Educational and Career Paths! The author suggests, with all his heart, that you read this book, take in the ideas which are presented in it and learn to apply those ideas to challenging situations which appear in your life (not only in the presence of "conflicts," but in such things as your relationships and educational and career paths). You can join the growing number of individuals who are the Pioneers into the WinCrafting Domain, and create joy and satisfaction ... travel to Win-Win and Beyond, and into the Domain of WinCrafting and The Beautiful Music Possibility!

John Rice is the originator and developer of the thrilling, breakthrough WinCrafting ideas and methodology, which empower people to use their creativity to be quickly and consistently effective in the presence of conflict, instead of being chewed alive by conflict, and often having large portions of life dominated by it! WinCrafting allows people to walk away from hundreds of years of ideas which have failed the test of time, such as win-lose, and also the 600 to 700 years of training and practice in the domain of (what people call, sadly) "conflict management." It's a good idea to manage, say, a hotel or a restaurant, because a major goal is to keep those things around, right? A conflict? Not so much! During John's early years as an attorney in Arizona, he became one of the first three individuals in the United States who began to advocate mediation as a better alternative than the then-prevailing adversary system. His mediation results were so successful (particularly involving individuals who had been in long-term, severe conflicts) that they came to the attention of the then-presiding Judge of the Family Law Division of the Superior Court system in Maricopa County, Arizona, who became a mentor and friend to the then-young attorney. Judge Pickrell eventually invited John to speak to Arizona's assembled judges, to describe the advantages of mediation, and to advocate that they consider mediation as a requirement before the start of adversary trials. The judges chose to participate in turning that suggestion into state law three months later, making Arizona the first state to adopt such a law in the United States, which served as a role model for the many other states which followed that example during the ensuing years. Soon after that, John was named Director of a two-state region of the American Arbitration Association. He left that position in order to take on the role of Director of the International Mediation Association and, in 1985, John founded The Win-Win Institute. In that role, he taught students from all over the world to be effective in the presence of conflict, in his now-renowned seminar, "How to Make a Conflict Disappear," and also in his Mastery of Mediation course, which eventually evolved into his Certification in WinCrafting program. As of the publication of John's book, WinCrafting, in 2023, he was approaching having completed 10,000 successful WinCrafting sessions, which have included a great many very challenging and protracted conflicts. Almost always, it takes John only 20 or 30 minutes of working with people, and they are no longer in conflict, but instead have found a way, as individuals or in partnership with one another, to come up with gorgeous and inspiring creations (which John refers to as Beautiful Music). Given the breakthrough which his work represents, John has taught at such places as the annual conferences of the American Psychological Association, and the American Bar Association (for those who are not familiar with the ABA, it is comprised of lawyers, not bartenders, although John suggests that the latter folks would also be well-advised to study with him). He also taught the staff of the National Education Association, as well as having led seminars and other training programs in many corporations, schools and churches. The thing which John works to share with everyone is his discovery that whenever such efforts as mediation sessions are successful, a specific set of steps has always been followed. Identifying and clarifying those steps is what led to WinCrafting ... not only the process, but also the newly-emerging WinCrafting Profession. John's hope, throughout all of his efforts, has been that as many people as possible will come to understand WinCrafting, including the steps which lead away from such things as the pain, frustration and sadness which attend ineffectiveness in the presence of conflict, and into the satisfaction and joy of The Beautiful Music Possibility!