Chapter 11. Compromise Versus Lowest Common Denominators
This is one of our favorite thinking techniques because it debunks one of the most revered mental traps. When you are confronted with alternatives that are at odds with each other, you believe it is best to seek a compromise. However, the reality is that when you think about what compromise is, objectively and honestly, it is generally not the best possible approach to problem solving. That is because it speaks to a negative outcome (“I'll give up something because the other party is also giving up something”) or a midpoint between two possibilities, satisfying neither. Any compromise is likely to be a lose-lose solution.
In marketing, for example, compromise can be deadly. If two market ...
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