top negotiator all emphasize they don’t write off the…
Page 157 top negotiator all emphasize they don’t write off the other side is crazy. When they when their behavior confuses you lean into that confusion. Treated as a clue. You often find that it leads you to the information you need to resolve the negotiation.
— from Friends, Community & Society (Relationships/Community/Society)
In the book
When someone is causing you friction, you have more moves than you think: find the common ground, assume a good person in bad circumstances rather than a bad person, and raise the hard issue with care. The best negotiators have a related discipline: they never write the other side off as crazy — when someone's behavior confuses you, they lean into the confusion and treat it as a clue to the information you are missing. And if you truly want someone to reconsider a position, badgering them rarely works; asking them honest questions does far more to move them — but only once they trust that you are doing it for the right reasons, not to score a point. — Friends, Community & Society (Relationships/Community/Society)