BACK TO BASICS SERIES: COMPROMISE & ME! BEING IN SWEDEN: LAGOM - MEETING IN THE MIDDLE

摘要

The above title uses a Swedish word, lagom, that roughly translates as "meeting in the middle satisfied." A few years ago, at a conference in Europe, Conny Jornk-lin, a Swedish lawyer and neutral, taught me the word and its meaning over lunch. It is an adjective used to convey a positive solution to a dispute. The outcome is between the polar opposite positions taken by the parties. Inherent in the Swedish word and its usage, however, is the implication that the solution is amicable and meets the needs of the parties. It involves compromise without rancor or remorse. In Sweden, a successful society built upon fundamentals of consensual resolution of political, economic and social problems, it is not surprising that the word exists not only as an adjective, verb, and noun, but also as a fundamental concept of civil harmony.