Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Trump and The Negotiation Gambit


From Scott Adams at the Dilbert Blog:
One thing we know about Donald Trump is that he doesn’t apologize. He doesn’t apologize when he is wrong. He doesn’t apologize when he is offensive. He doesn’t apologize for mistakes. 
As crazy as that sounds, I have blogged that it gives him a sort of superpower for negotiating. He creates an expectation that Donald Trump never budges even while he makes other people budge all the time. 
For example, on the news this morning I heard that Speaker Ryan said he would step down from managing the Republican Convention if Trump asks him to do so. I have to assume that managing a convention is a terrible job and not something Ryan wants to do anyway. 
Ryan is simply being smart, practical, and reasonable. But it looks to the public that Trump can influence Ryan while Ryan can’t influence Trump. 
That pattern is important to Trump. It sets the table for how people deal with him in the future. Specifically, it tells people they are going to lose when they try to negotiate with him. 
That sort of expectation hardens into reality over time and gives him a tremendous psychological advantage. Trump knows that.
GO READ THE WHOLE THING. 

1 comment:

WC said...

Read the first chapter of his book 'The Art of the Deal'. It's all there.