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ОглавлениеSTEFAN AARNIO
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As time passed and the couple sat on the hot sand, the Mexican vendor walked by again and the American lawyer offered $8 to the Mexican vendor who countered now at $14. The lawyer, too full of pride, felt that $14 was too much money for the blanket, and he and his wife scorched on the hot sand for a few more hours.
For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon both the lawyer’s position and the Mexican vendor’s position inched toward each other, and finally the lawyer met his maximum price at $11.25 and the Mexican vendor hit his minimum at $12.50. Neither side would budge, and egos were flaring. The Mexican would not yield, and the lawyer would not give in. Finally the sun went down, and the American lawyer and his wife went home without the Mexican blanket, badly burned and uncomfortable from sitting on the hot sand all day. $1.25 had ruined the beach experience for the lawyer’s wife, and the rest of the trip was very uncomfortable for him.
The number one rule in negotiating is to get what you want and get out. Negotiating for negotiation’s sake often times doesn’t make sense, and in the story of the Mexican blanket vendor, the lawyer showed us a perfect example of winning the battle but losing the war. In the big picture, $1.25 is not a big deal to an American lawyer who is taking his wife on a hot beach vacation and as they say, a happy wife is a happy life, but unfortunatley pride, egos, and competitive nature took over and suddenly the lawyer was negotiating out of ego rather than getting what he really wanted—a blanket and a nice beach experience for his wife. Even though the lawyer had successfully negotiated the blanket down to $12.50 from $20 and essentialy a 37.5 percent discount from the asking price, he failed to get what he really wanted—a happy wife with a nice beach experience and a blanket. Pride is the worst sin of all because it fools us to believe that we are better than others and our surroundings. In all religions of the world, sins are a waste of energy, and pride is the biggest waste of energy of all.
When negotiating remain in control and know when to stop. To be in control of something is to be able to start, change, and stop it. Get what you want and get out is the most important commandment in negotiation. Old Jewish wisdom says, “Count your money; don’t count their money.”