Skip to main content

Win-Win WIN

Friends,
One of the more memorable books I read in business school was Getting to Yes. Its pages contained many insights about the art of negotiation. Some of the recent headlines call to mind the chapter on “Soviet-style negotiations” -the notion that negotiations are zero-sum games. If you win, I lose. I’ve been wondering what would happen if we applied some of the rhetoric we’re seeing at the international level to a smaller scale (all tongue in cheek, of course)
  • Californians have been migrating to Colorado for some time now, driving-up the cost of housing and, with it, the overall cost of living. Should our governor build a wall at the border to keep all those unsavory characters out?
  • What about the People’s Republic of Boulder? They think they’re so evolved and cultured. But all the worthwhile cultural venues are in Denver. Might it be a good idea to impose a tax on Subarus coming into Denver (we all know where those come from) to help pay for what those freeloader hippies are consuming?
  • Let’s not mention the city of Aurora. Their values are different than ours. Should we impose a moratorium on letting folks from Aurora into Denver until we can figure-out exactly what’s going-on over there?

As with the larger arguments that inspired these questions, the logic above is over-simplified and flawed. Win-lose negotiations are short-sighted and outdated. They may reap short-term benefits, but are harmful in the long-run. For instance, while it may be tempting to think the donuts I bring every Friday are a win for you (free donuts) and a loss for me (less money), the reality is I enjoy doing it and I believe the benefit I get in terms of goodwill and morale far outweigh the costs. As with NATO, we ALL win. So come partake in this win-win arrangement we have going here at WIN!
Happy Friday!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy New Year!

  Friends, Happy new year (and, technically, still Friday). As many of you know, my household has a peculiar way of ringing-in the new year. We build effigies representing the old year and burn them at midnight. This year, although we made the tough call of canceling the accompanying annual party, I felt it was important to go ahead with the burning. The theme, of course, was CoVid. My kids and I developed a dozen mutations of the virus and staged them in our backyard. Then, at a quarter ‘till midnight, we proceeded to read the old year’s last will and testament (or, as might be expected for a year like this, an un-will and un-testament). Shortly thereafter they were summarily burned. We then proceeded to stay up way past my bedtime (which in part helps explain the unusual tardiness of my weekly note). In any event a couple of donuts and a day of rest have got me back to my old self. By the way, I’ve posted a public video of the Facebook live stream event on Facebook. Key markers on
Post a Comment
Read more

THE Oasis

Friends, The book  Ready Player One  sent me down memory lane this week. The journey was not triggered by the author’s excessive references to the 1980s, which border on obsessive. Rather, it was the name of the massive virtual reality simulation used by characters in this dystopian future to escape their grim surroundings: The OASIS. You see, that was also the name of my grandfather’s country estate, the setting where a disproportionate share of my treasured childhood memories were created.  La Quinta Oasis was a bucolic old whitewashed house with a massive stone staircase, three foot thick adobe walls and wooden window shutters that, when closed at night, would submerge the residence in pitch darkness. With no running water, electricity, phone or indoor plumbing, the only modern convenience was the battery transistor radio on which my uncles would listen to “Chucho el Roto”, a radio soap opera. The Spanish fighting roosters crowed long before sunrise, making it difficult to fall back
Post a Comment
Read more

Accidental Culinary Innovations

Friends, Have you ever inadvertently fermented spaghetti sauce? Yeah, me neither… until yesterday, that is! Imagine my surprise when the half-full bottle, sitting in the fridge from time immemorial, made a sound akin to opening a beer bottle, instantly filling the glass container with a hazy smoke. As the carbonation dissipated, I grabbed a spoon to conduct the obligatory taste test. How was it? I’m glad you asked! Let’s just say chunky carbonated tomato beer is not my thing (although I must admit that if I had been expecting it, my reaction might have been a little more… composed). Now, if you forgo the fermentation and switch the tomato paste with spicy salsa… that might be the next million dollar idea! Sparkling sriracha anyone? How about Carbonated Cholula?   Bubbly Habanero? Fizzy Jalapeño?? I could go on, but I have a feeling Gassy Guac might not fly off the shelves. Now, if only I could stumble on a way to improve donuts. Carbonated Jelly filling… yeah, maybe not. I think I’ll
Post a Comment
Read more