Doug NollI'm called in when human dynamics are getting in the way of strategic leadership execution.

IAM Award Ceremony Doug Noll Prison of Peace

6 Nov 2017 · 3 min

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2:38

In this award acceptance segment at the IAM ceremony, Doug Noll thanks his colleagues and the audience for recognizing his and his partner Laurel’s work as mediators and peacemakers. He describes the demanding nature of their mediation program in California’s most violent prisons, where they work exclusively with lifers and long‑term inmates—often murderers—who repeatedly attend sessions and show a genuine desire to change. Noll highlights the profound personal transformations he has witnessed among these inmates. He expresses gratitude to the AAA/ICDR Foundation and the JAMS Foundation for grant funding that enabled program growth, and notes that JAMS facilitated the involvement of Dimitra from Greece, who trained with them for six months and is now implementing similar mediation programs in three Greek prisons with plans to expand to six. The speech conveys deep appreciation, pride in the work’s impact, and optimism about the emerging international movement.

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So, Douglas E. Noll, this reads, your steadfast dedication of extraordinary accomplishments in bringing mediation to places in desperate need honors us all. Thank you, Susan. I'm deeply honored.
I couldn't actually be more deeply honored than colleagues who understand the work that we do every day. We go out and talk about the work we do as mediators and peacemakers, and most people kind of give us a glassy-eyed stare. So to receive this kind of recognition from all of my friends and colleagues in here is especially meaningful. I will say that— This is delicate. Yes, I will say that the work that Laurel and I do Uh, involves very long hours. Um, it's very intense. But what keeps taking us back into these really dark places— we work in the darkest prisons in California where there's just intense violence— and what takes us in there is the fact that these inmates keep showing up week after week after week after week. And they show up and they want to learn and they want to change their lives and they want to change the lives of people around We only work with lifers and long-termers, all the murderers, and, um, it is just amazing to watch the transformations that occur with these people as we work with them. So thank you on behalf of Laurel and myself, and if any— did anybody hear on the American Arbitration ICDR Foundation? Well, if you know people who are on that foundation, we want to thank them too. They gave us the grant that really allowed us to expand. So the AAA ICDR Foundation gets a lot of credit, and the JAMS Foundation too has provided funding to help us go forward. It was the JAMS Foundation that brought Dimitra over from Greece, and she studied with us for 6 months, and now she's in 3 prisons in Greece, about to open 6. So this is— it's at the beginning of international movement, so we're quite proud of everything. So thank you very much. I really appreciate it.