Back and forth

Give and take. Up and down.

The art of compromise seems to be on vacation these days. Remember when a good negotiation was when everyone came away feeling they had gotten something? Why is it that these days someone must lose for someone to win? I don't get it.

I see it everyday. One person wants something, but refuses to give an inch to get it. They must have it all or they would rather the whole deal goes to pot. It's strange.

I took a class once on the proper art of negotiation. It was sponsored by the company I was working for at the time. It was great. A guy came in and taught us the subtleties (at least as much as you could pick up in two days) and really showed us how absolutes just ruin the process and people begin to feel cheated. I loved that class. Of course, when everyone went back to work it was business as usual and I never saw anyone use the techniques that were taught, but it was good information for me at least.

Absolutes get you nowhere. I know, people with all the power can and do use absolutes all the time, but in the end everyone they talk to will hate them. I, personally, don't want anyone hating me and think that those people will never get the respect they think they deserve.

I did some painting today (as I've said before segues are rare and sometimes very odd on this blog, hang on). I enjoyed it, but forgot how frustrating it can be. Even though I live in a colorful world translating that to canvas is quite troublesome for me. I like my little black and white sketches.

Tonight I scanned the entire page so you could see how my process works. I just sort of sketch around until something comes into my head then I try and finish that one out. I really like the super rough one in the middle, but couldn't quite figure out the composition.

It gets back into absolutes. (See, I got back on point. Sometimes I do like to run around that barn.) I sit there challenging myself to draw the entire picture correctly the first time and that never works. You have to move the pencils around and negotiate with yourself, the paper and the pencil to define the composition and realize your goal.

Some days that doesn't go so well. As you could see from yesterdays post I spent the entire evening fighting the composition and ultimately just banging out a sketch. It didn't feel good, but it had gotten late and something needed to go on the blog, so I just posted.

It's that way a lot in business if you deal in too many absolutes. Suddenly, something needs to happen and everyone tacitly agrees to do something inferior because no one wants to compromise. You just put it out there. You just get it done without realizing that every time you do that you sell yourself and your colleagues short. Compromise is what actually makes good work great and great work phenomenal, but that's just my opinion.

Now if I can just get my paper and pencils to show up for a meeting on time I'll be in business.

Cheers!