Q & A Table of Contents
Following Prescriptive Advice
From: Oil Company Engineer -- Malaysia
Question: In negotiation, should I always follow prescriptive advice?
Response: In negotiations prescriptive advice should be treated as an
assumption against which potential and real consequences should be tested.
Someone may advise you that when you negotiate with 'Charlie Chaplin', it
is important never to mention the Queen of England. That is prescriptive
advice. As a negotiator, you should try to find out whether the Queen of
England is really one of 'Mr. Chaplin's 'hot buttons' so that you learn
whether the prescriptive advice is accurate or may only reflect the
impressions or experience of someone who has negotiated with him before and
misread his response to that issue.
I assume you catch my drift.
Good luck and good negotiating, Steve.
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