–Below is a leadership bullet from Tom’s rifle named Shot–
EVER HEARD THE JOKE about school: “I don’t hate it; it’s just the principal of the thing.” It’s a comical use of homonyms—you know, words with different meanings that sound alike. How about a single word with different meanings? Try negotiation: 1) On hunts I and my marksman negotiated our way around many obstacles; 2) On occasion my marksman had to negotiate with farmers to let us hunt on their land.
Ole Shot, you have likely noticed, likes to play with words. I’ll try: Principle-based negotiation. This is the kind of negotiation that leaves you and the other party in a good relationship. Thus, it is NOT getting one’s way through power play, deception, trickery, stubbornness, tradeoffs, or win-lose positioning. It, instead, is genuinely considering the weight of each other’s real interests and finding a way to meet them. The only winning is winning the process: understanding each other’s real interests and determining an outcome based on recognized standards. All that may require creativity and searching for fresh alternatives. It’s making principles principal.