You Can Negotiate Anything

Let me introduce to you, if you aren't familiar, to Herb Cohen, in the YouTube video below, and the book, which I read many years ago.




The reason I mention Cohen, is that we need solutions, which is the main theme of this blog. Why Cohen? Well, it is my blog, and I am familiar with it. That's number one. Number two, I think that we are at a critical juncture here, and we need something to help us out. By us, I mean the USA. We've got big issues, mainly with our spending. We need to cut it, but we are faced with the problem about how to do that. There are a couple of ways to deal with this situation: 1) fight or 2) negotiate. I think that negotiation is preferable. Cohen had a reputation as a good negotiator. Unfortunately, he is dead. But we can use his works as an inspiration to what we need to do now.

I am depending upon memory here, but the video backs up what I mention next. And that is this, everybody needs to walk away with something, or a deal can't last. If someone lapses into a winner takes all mode, the ink will not get dry before the deal will start coming apart. In order for a deal to be durable, everybody has to get something out of it that reaches their objective. This may sound too "kum baya", but it is reality. Neither side is going away anytime soon. The reality is that we have to find a way to get along.

I believe deals can be made. But there has to be a will to make the deal, or make the fight. One way or another, the reality of the situation will force a solution of one kind or another. It would be better if the solution is one that we can come up with ourselves, as opposed to having one forced upon us.

I think the next leader of this country will have to show an usual capacity for making solid deals. Deals that will stand up to the test of time. One can recall by reading history, that the US Constitution would not have been adopted if the delegates to the Convention had not been able to make a number of deals. They were called Compromises. Lately, the word compromise has gotten something of a bad name. If by compromise, you mean capitulation, then what you really have is an ineffective negotiation. If you can't negotiate your way out, you may have to fight your way out. Which do you prefer?