Chapter 10Unlocking Deadlocks
If Nothing Works, Change Something
Two parties have been negotiating long and hard. They've stated their respective positions, made offers, heard counteroffers, listened to each other's needs, even traded a few lesser points with each other, but finally have come down to the pivotal issue. It could be price or timing or terms or control. But whatever it is, neither side feels they can give any more. They're eyeball to eyeball and nobody's blinking. Now what?
You've reached deal gridlock. Nobody's going anywhere. How do you break it? Who moves first? Who gives without feeling like the loser? What do you do about the egos that may be bruised or need massaging?
As with all impasses, something has to change—almost anything—whether it's at the heart of the matter or tangential to it.
- Two left-turning trucks get blocked halfway across an intersection by a crossing onslaught of bumper-to-bumper taxis. Horns blare, cabbies swear, neck veins bulge, and pedestrians can't even walk on the “walk” sign. Who's going to move? How much? When? Truckers won't; it's defeat. Cabbies won't; it's retreat. More horns, more cursing, more gridlock. Finally, a little blue subcompact, 10 cars behind the cabs, inches slightly left and slightly up. The cab next to him pulls a little right ...
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