Monday, August 08, 2005
A Tale of 2 Negotiations: (Flat) + (Shame, then Irony)
Flat. I gave Rury until Sunday to decide what to do about the flat. Two offers on the table: take it on your own, or move. He wanted to take it on his own, which suits me, because he has an AAA credit rating, and I get to leave all my stuff in the flat. I originally asked for £400, and then decided shortly afterwards that £450 was closer to the amount that would make me happy. The only way that I could make this work, is to get a fake offer of £450 from someone else, then offer it back to Rury and £430, to convince him that he was practically ripping me off by getting it £20 cheaper. Which was pulled off.
In my mind, the way to negotiate is not just to get the best deal for yourself, but to convince the other party that they are practically stealing from you. It makes them happy.
Shame, then Irony. A contractor I know has been terminated as a result of failed negotiations. He may not be Bismarck, yet he rallied the troops behind him and coerced, rather than convinced, for pure platinum rates from the management at renewal time. The management paid, without disguising the grudge. Thus it was a shame that weeks afterwards, the deal was changed - in many ways - unfairly to himself. But, such is life, and from the other side, if it the deal continued, it would have been unfair to many more people. Management had no choice. The irony occurred when he locked horns with a manager who used a strong arm tactic encouragingly similar to his own, to demand the change. Egos held ground, and his position became unavailable. If the negotiations fail, like a marriage, how can you ever blame one party?
Got my book on Hirigana yesterday, and now I lie in complete bemusement of the 46 BASIC characters that comprise one of the three languages. When you find a task difficult, don't bother trying (people who do this are just displaying a depraved fear of failure). Just give up and take a fleeting interest in the next thing.
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