It's a small world (or, all negotiations are serial)
How many times do you come across people you never expected to see again, having one of those "small world" experiences? All the time, right? I've been listening to a bunch of the negotiation podcasts from the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series. One of their biggest tips is that when you are negotiating, you should expect to see the person that you are negotiating with again.
This one really resonates with me. I've seen a lot of negotiations be carried out as one-time events, where at least one party tries to "win" by getting more than their share of the pie. The problem with that is that the party who "lost" will try to get their rightful share of the pie back in some form. Here are a couple of examples I can think of right off the top of my head:
1. My landlord is making way too much construction noise. We've spoken about it, and he's agreed to things like not working on Sundays. He has not fulfilled his side of the deal. There's nothing I can do about it now, but at some point, he'll want something from me, and I'll be less likely to give it to him.
2. When I left Dovetail, Brett negotiated the departure in bad faith. It was so bad, that I will never do business with him again. This is an extreme case, but the point is that it's a small world, and probably we'll cross paths again. If he'd negotiated in good faith, I would have considered doing something with him again, but since he didn't, I won't even though we have a long history of working together.
3. I am writing this post from my friend Tim's ski house in Tahoe. I'm not a part of the share, but he got the others in the house to let me use it, which was really nice of him. In this case, he's gone out of his way to do something nice for me which costs him almost nothing. He didn't have to do that, and he's taking a risk that I mess the place up. Instead, I'm going to leave it in better shape than I found it so that he looks good in front of his housemates and I have a higher chance of being invited back.
I am going to listen to this advice, and always think of any negotiation I enter into as one of many future negotiations. Generally, it's much better and easier for both parties to come up with a "win-win" solution instead of trying to split the pie and having one side "lose".
This one really resonates with me. I've seen a lot of negotiations be carried out as one-time events, where at least one party tries to "win" by getting more than their share of the pie. The problem with that is that the party who "lost" will try to get their rightful share of the pie back in some form. Here are a couple of examples I can think of right off the top of my head:
1. My landlord is making way too much construction noise. We've spoken about it, and he's agreed to things like not working on Sundays. He has not fulfilled his side of the deal. There's nothing I can do about it now, but at some point, he'll want something from me, and I'll be less likely to give it to him.
2. When I left Dovetail, Brett negotiated the departure in bad faith. It was so bad, that I will never do business with him again. This is an extreme case, but the point is that it's a small world, and probably we'll cross paths again. If he'd negotiated in good faith, I would have considered doing something with him again, but since he didn't, I won't even though we have a long history of working together.
3. I am writing this post from my friend Tim's ski house in Tahoe. I'm not a part of the share, but he got the others in the house to let me use it, which was really nice of him. In this case, he's gone out of his way to do something nice for me which costs him almost nothing. He didn't have to do that, and he's taking a risk that I mess the place up. Instead, I'm going to leave it in better shape than I found it so that he looks good in front of his housemates and I have a higher chance of being invited back.
I am going to listen to this advice, and always think of any negotiation I enter into as one of many future negotiations. Generally, it's much better and easier for both parties to come up with a "win-win" solution instead of trying to split the pie and having one side "lose".
posted by Chris at 2:20 PM
1 Comments:
i agree. i've always been a big believer of the old saying, "what goes around, comes around." i know this phrase is more broad than what you're referencing but it's important to remember when handling business and personal situations.
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