I spent all day in a mock negotiating session today. I was one of a team of four people, and what I learned about negotiation is that there are unreasonable, stupid people out there. People who – when theoretically on your own team – do not seem to understand basic math or be able to clearly communicate an idea. The worst part of this is that these people may someday be in charge.
In my specific instance during all this, I left the negotiation frustrated beyond capacity for reason. There are people on my team that I now know I will never work with, because my interests (win/win scenarios) are not aligned with theirs.
So be it.
A hypothetical that I posed:
“Would you ask someone to pay for 50% of your car so they could use it 30% of the time?”
If you can, I salute you. I can tell you, however, that if someone asked that of me I’d be incredibly insulted. (And let me assure you, we talked about the “zones” in distributive bargaining – those zones being reasonable, credible, and insulting offers.)
Anyway, I’m ready to be done with this class. I’ve learned a lot, but it just cost me a Saturday that was supposed to be an otherwise great day.
