Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Insider Quote: Our old friend Negotiation

This one on Negotiation from former British Ambassador to Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Warsaw, Charles Crawford (also known as the biggest brain in King Charles Street prior to his retirement from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office):

... a good plan is to spell out unexpected costs to them of their success, and unexpected benefits to them of your own view prevailing.

A more ruthless strategy involves increasing their pain, one way or the other. But that works only if your willingness and ability to inflict pain exceeds the other side's willingness to tolerate it.