Indeed that is the lesson. An easy thing to say but not so easy to do when you value integrity and honesty in yourself and in others. Oh yeah, and have much of your life on the line with a small business.
Unfortunately, I believe that it is many people's intentions to get a person to engage at an emotional level to gain ground on a negotiation whether it be to change the topic, elicit a reaction and then hold you to it (ie. Please calm down you are overreacting. This often causes another reaction.). This is not a productive approach to do doing business or anything else for that matter.
Emotions are hard. Emotions are great. They help us persevere and perseverate. As small business owners we need perseverance, thus we need emotion. It keeps us going. It keeps us engaged when it is critical.
But we need to keep it in check where necessary without closing it off when we need it most.
Friends, spouses-partners, colleagues, "going to the balcony" (from Getting to Yes), and our own internal barometer or bag of tricks are but a few of the ways we can improve outcomes and maintain integrity.
Understanding and setting such limits payoff--this week in fact.
Great work!
