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!