Helping make great organizations even stronger.
About Fisherwick Collaborations
Fisherwick Collaborations has its roots in Northern Ireland, as does its principal dot connector, Paul Black.
Fisherwick is a street name in Ballymena, a hard-scrabble town in County Antrim, where Paul spent much of his pre-school life.
George Mitchell said of Northern Ireland that his experience taught him that the receptors people have for receiving information are sized in proportion to points of view they agree with. The space we have for “understanding” is therefore oriented to what we feel we want, or need, to understand. Over the years this pattern has caused misunderstanding, confusion, lost opportunity, entrenched bias and war in the North of Ireland, and many other parts of the world.
This is a pattern repeated too often in the relationships we build every day in business, government and society more broadly.
Too often we seek to claim, instead of working to create, value for ourselves and others. We get entrenched in our positions, and lose sight of our actual interests. We sit on “our” side of the table, and rarely take a trip up to the balcony to look at the dynamics from a new perspective.
Collaboration is the most sensible yet seemingly difficult thing we can do – in business, government, and society as a whole.
Through Fisherwick Collaborations we aim to help people identify with, and execute their plans on the basis that:
dialogue is more productive than conflict;
‘you’ and ‘I’ are invariably weaker than ‘we’ and ‘us’; and,
in seeking to understand the world, and one another, in new and different ways, we will find a more sustainable path.
Reach out to us today to set up a conversation.
About Paul Black
As an immigrant from “the troubles” of Northern Ireland, I have lived a life of great good fortune in Canada. I did my BA(H) at Acadia in Political Science, and my Masters in Political Science at Dalhousie – and Executive Education in Canada, the US, UK, India and South Africa. I’ve worked in government, business and with NGOs, so I’m “tri-lingual”. I provide counsel to a variety of private and public entities – building bridges, negotiating solutions and “getting proximate” to both opportunities and problems. I enjoy cycling and getting out to explore the diverse nature of this world. I have monitored elections as an International Observer in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe.
A craft beer, a good conversation and laughter makes me happy. My kids do, too. I have more fiction than non on my bookshelf. I’m often listening to the Hip or Snow Patrol and some current affairs podcasts on my playlist. I have lived in Northern Ireland, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and I currently live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
I believe where you spend your time shows what you value in life. Besides my family and my health, I am committed to supporting a number of worthy organizations and people doing amazing work, either as a volunteer, or in my work life.
As a Board member:
As an occasional volunteer:
As a donor and supporter:
As a sometimes instructor or part-time Faculty Member:
