I commend CPR for its many contributions to promoting alternative dispute resolution techniques and tools. And I congratulate Microsoft on receiving the annual leadership award for “its commitment to institutionalizing ADR into its corporate and industry culture.” ADR is a promising approach for dealing expeditiously and effectively with conflict, not only in the workplace and B2B sphere. I’ll turn in a moment to how it might play out in my world of business and human rights by helping to resolve disputes there, especially between companies and communities...Here is [an] example. A large commodity mining company in Africa, a subsidiary of a transnational firm, reports to its parent that all is well because it has won six of the seven lawsuits brought against it by local communities...But executives at the parent company are deeply puzzled, because with each lawsuit won the local dispute seems to escalate, not decline, while the parent company’s international reputation is taking ever bigger hits...The lesson to be drawn from these cases is this: a serious misalignment exists in each instance between legal requirements and prevailing social expectations...