Mediation for Business
Evaluative – Innovative – Pro-active
In the world of high-stakes business, disputes aren’t just about assets or contracts—they’re about people. Richard brings a unique blend of commercial expertise and emotional intelligence to the table, making him the ideal mediator for resolving even the most complex conflicts.
Richard combines extensive experience in global financial markets with a deep understanding of human dynamics. His career began in the mid-80s, trading from the City of London, where he learned to thrive in a fiercely competitive environment. By his late 30s, Richard was a Director at Bank of America, managing substantial global trades and leading a team of 40 high-performing individuals.
Richard knows what drives people in high-pressure environments and how emotions and personalities influence disputes.
Reflecting on his journey, Richard observes:
“Financial success was always important to me, but time has redefined what success means. Now, it’s about balance – combining financial achievement with personal contentment – and helping others move forward positively on their own journeys.”
It is this awareness alongside Richard’s knowledgeable background, that sits at the heart of his mediation skills.
Richard understands what drives people in the business environment and the unavoidable politics of corporate life. Whether a dispute centres around hard assets such as a retail business, manufacturing etc or more abstract ones such as finance or intellectual property, ever present are personalities and the raw emotions that come with any perceived success or failure.
Richard co-founded Progressive Dispute Resolutions Ltd in recognition of how the modern business environment has changed. The vast and previously unimaginable impact of technology since the Millenium has permanently changed business, whilst at the same time there remains the aftershock of the financial markets collapse in 2008 and the Pandemic in 2020. Business has needed to respond to all of this and continues to do so amidst geo-political instability and the evolution of Artificial Intelligence.
Richard muses “These are all seismic events that have had – and will continue to have – a profound impact across the globe, however when it comes to disputes, the one constant is always People! “
Two parties can see the same truth differently, so whatever the nature of a business maybe, or the idiosyncrasies of any dispute, the common denominator is how that dispute reflects the characters in the background.
Richard has robust commercial knowledge but is also empathetic and understanding of people; conflating both is an exceptional skill which Richard carries in abundance.
In keeping with the Progressive Dispute Resolution theme, Richard sees how mediation techniques must now evolve through awareness and experience, to tackle the issues that divide people in the modern world.
