Add Your PerspectiveSeptember 9, 2008
Why It May Be a Bad Idea to “Send them a Message”
“Our next move needs to make it clear that we mean business.” I have heard that line (and others like it) before, and you have, too. But a concept in a popular business book recently helped me understand why this isn’t the great approach I once thought it was. In Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath explain how the “The Curse of Knowledge” impacts how we communicate. With the help of their book, I now see how some negotiations succeed while others fail.
Do We Outsmart Ourselves?
At some point in almost every negotiation we are tempted to use our actions to send a message – a customer hoping to “get tough” demands the supplier come to her office; a home purchaser makes a “low ball” offer to signal that the house is priced too high; and a policyholder reduces his claim More…
Categories: Communication,Negotiation,Selected Posts,Theory