Look Out, Duck! — Part 2
Part One of Look Out! Duck! showed the importance of the opening. When the stakes are high, unscripted, unplanned, and even off-color openings can disrupt discussions before they even get started.
In Part Two, we pick up after a pause. We see how even an awful opening can be an opportunity. Then, we follow two lead negotiators as they work to find common ground.
The cause could be described as weird… but maybe it’s not, depending on how you feel about frogs.
A poorly timed joke. A reaction. A room full of tension. We've seen how an unplanned, unscripted opening derailed talks. Now - after a cooling off period - the two parties are back at it. We start this new Foibley series with a look at lessons learned.
A poorly planned opening to high-stakes discussions is a bad move. But leaders can react in ways that still move talks forward. Here we learn how a bad joke became a sort of release valve - eventually reducing tensions. And we see the beginnings of a new working relationship taking shape in an unexpected way.
Two negotiators look into a rain barrel and see a frog trapped inside. What follows isn’t about the frog. It’s about what happens when you stop reacting and start asking, “What is this like from the other side?”