Judge Warren Davis was the speaker at the March 5, 2012, Rotary Club of Lawrenceville meeting. Judge Davis’s topic was dealing with difficult people.

Even though his examples came from the legal world, he contended that we all probably confront these same personality types no matter what our line of work. He referenced two books: Dr. Rick Brinkman and Dr. Rick Kirschner’s Dealing with People You Can’t Stand and Dr. Bill Eddy’s High Conflict People in Legal Disputes. Drs. Brinkman and Kirschner classify the problem people into 10 categories and discuss how best to bring out the best in the different types. Dr. Eddy, a psychiatrist and lawyer who heads the High Conflict Institute, emphasizes the importance of personality in conflict resolution and maintains the 20-80% rule: 80% will fit into one of his personality types. Among those types are the chronic blamer, the emotionally driven, borderline personalities, narcissistic personalities, anti-socials, histrionics, paranoids, and dependents. Judge Davis recommended the two books and maintained that recognizing the types can help those in leadership positions to deal with problem people more effectively.

https://vimeo.com/38099075