she did give one, more than 90 percent did. And it didn’t
matter if the reason made sense. (“Excuse me, I have five
pages. May I cut in line because I have to make copies?”
worked great.) People just responded positively to the
framework.
While idiotic reasons worked with something simple like
photocopying, on more complicated issues you can increase
your effectiveness by offering reasons that reference your
counterpart’s religion. Had that Christian CEO offered me a
lowball offer when he agreed to hire my firm, I might have
answered, “I’d love to but I too have a duty to be a
responsible steward of my resources.”
IT’S NOT CRAZY, IT’S A CLUE
It’s not human nature to embrace the unknown. It scares us.
When we are confronted by it, we ignore it, we run away, or
we label it in ways that allow us to dismiss it. In
negotiations, that label most often takes the form of the
statement, “They’re crazy!”
That’s one reason I’ve been highly critical of some of
the implementation of America’s hostage negotiation policy
—which is that we don’t negotiate with those we refer
broadly to as “the Terrorists,” including groups from the
Taliban to ISIS.
The rationale for this nonengagement is summarized
well by the journalist Peter Bergen, CNN’s national security
analyst: “Negotiations with religious fanatics who have
delusions of grandeur generally do not go well.”