simply better ways to negotiate and resolve conflict

Would you try to lure fish with strawberry shortcake?

In his famous How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie wrote,

“I often went fishing up in Maine during the summer. Personally I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn’t think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn’t bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of the fish and said: ‘Wouldn’t you like to have that?’

“Why not use the same common sense when fishing for people?”

Love that story. Hat tip to my friend Cindy for reminding me of that one, long forgotten to me.

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