Ken Harrenstien <KLH@nic.ddn.mil> (06/07/90)
While reading a book recently, I ran across a tidbit that I thought readers of Telecom might appreciate. Herewith, from "Win-Win Negotiating" (1985) by Fred E. Jandt, p.265: Sometimes, hardballers operate on orders from above. For example, it's no secret that you can resolve a complaint much more easily with IBM, whose management practices a win-win philosophy, than with AT&T, where, from the very top down, the propensity is to tell you, "That's our policy." (Translation: "Go drown yourself.") ... "That's our policy" -- those are not only fighting words, they're words of consummate arrogance and defiance. If the person who utters them is working for someone else, forget about rhetoric or other means of persuasion; you've got to go to the boss. And if the person who utters the words *is* the boss, you've got to put a knife to his throat -- figuratively, of course -- and bring him to his knees before you can expect to reason with him. This was five years ago. Still true, I wonder?