President's Message

Negotiations. We may not like them, or we might not even realize when we’re in them, but the reality is each day is full of negotiations.

Some are obvious and formal, such as when we negotiate a new vendor contract or when we bargain with our children to wear matching socks. Some are more informal, such as when we negotiate rush hour traffic, or when a group of friends tries to decide where to go for happy hour. 

Then there are those higher-stakes negotiations that involve our emotions as well as our intellect. Take, for example, negotiation for a raise or a promotion, where that conversation is inextricably wrapped up in the emotional subtext of measuring our self-worth. While legally similar, settlement negotiations in a divorce look nothing like a business dissolution or bankruptcy. How about the time when you bought or sold your first house?

We’ve all been there – you win some, you lose some. And experience has shown us that negotiations such as these can break down faster than the blink of an eye. In these instances, my most painful missteps occurred because I focused too much on what I wanted to get instead of determining what I was willing to give away. After all, why fight to win something you don’t care about? Do our “gives” come back to us twofold? Most times (but not all) the answer is yes.

As we enter a new phase of COVID-19 and the home stretch of the hot mess that is 2020, the rate and number of personal and professional negotiations will only increase. The stakes will get higher across the board. Our passions will flare as the uncertainty rises and the temperature drops. It is basic human nature. But this pandemic is pernicious; it is not done injecting chaos into everything we do.

If, as Louis Pasteur, the father of the germ theory of disease, said, “chance favors the prepared mind,” then we would all do better to know what we must protect at all costs, and maximize the value, strength and power in giving away what we can.

As always,
Bruce