Word: options
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...course, what exactly to do about a Harvard Square-sized boulder bearing down on earth is an entirely different challenge. Currently, there are several hypothetical options, which fall into two broad categories. One, give the asteroid a very gentle nudge away from the earth. This could be accomplished either with a tiny rocket attached to the side of the asteroid or by a minute gravitational tug from a nearby spaceship. Two, detonate a nuclear bomb next to the asteroid, vaporizing one side of it, and sending it careening in another direction. Either option requires a good deal of advance notice...
...better option, according to Ury, is to serve your no sandwiched between two yeses. It will go down more easily and preserve your relationship yet still allow you to take a stand. Say you're a dutiful son who works in the family business and always covers weekend shifts--kind of a drag if you have a wife and kids at home. When you go to talk to Dad, start by saying yes to your own interests (my family needs me), then move on to your no (I can't work weekends anymore) and finish up by saying...
Anyone who has read Getting to Yes, or almost any other negotiations text, will recognize much of Ury's advice. Classics include focusing on underlying interests instead of positions (discussing what you want instead of the way you've decided to get there), developing another option (what Ury calls Plan B but Yes fans will recognize as BATNA--best alternative to a negotiated agreement) and making it easy for people to agree with you (Ury holds up Disney CEO Bob Iger as a master of letting others save face). Ury also includes ways to say no without saying...
...President Ryan A. Petersen ’08, who was in attendance along with Vice President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09, attested to the difficulty of delivering on the latter option...
...peers, ignoring the protests of angry aristos such as the Earl of Burford, who vaulted onto the Speaker's chair, bellowing, "What we are witnessing is the abolition of Britain!" The government's attempt in 2003 to initiate a second stage of reform went nowhere when MPs rejected every option for a new upper house laid before them. The Prime Minister had argued for an all-appointed house, saying a chamber with an elected element would rival Commons...