Avoiding Trouble


Early in my career I was part of a special unit that did foot patrols in bad neighborhoods. One night we’d go into Harlem, the next the South Bronx. This was back in the 1970s, and there was no such thing as gentrification at the time. The parts of the city that we went through were war zones, especially at night.

One of the things we would preach to law-abiding people in the areas was to avoid trouble. Very obvious stuff—don’t go out very late at night

if you don’t have to, buddy up, don’t walk alone in a darkened ally, things like that. Most of the people who lived there already knew those things; it was part of their common sense. Where they got into trouble was not looking far enough ahead to see that the choices they were making would put them into situations they knew they should avoid. Staying out late at a bar because So-and-so’s brother may drop by to give you a ride home . . . formula for disaster.

It seems obvious when you put it like that. But how many people find themselves in a situation where they have to have a car because the old one just died? Or they have to take whatever apartment at whatever price they can get because the lease on the other one runs out next week?

I know, I know: Life is what happens while you’re making plans for something else. If you find yourself up against it—negotiating at the point of a gun—not a problem; this book is for you. But as much as you can, plan ahead. Try to build time into your business and personal situations so that the deadlines are always the other guy’s, not yours. Let him walk down the dark alleys, not you.

Whether you’re talking about business or a car sale or a date with your girlfriend, if the deal looks too good, best to be suspicious. You can’t get something for nothing. If you’re buying land cheaper than swampland . . . it’s probably swampland with toxic waste. You can be a hell of a great negotiator and still not be able to talk yourself out of a ditch when you’re up to your neck in radioactive alligators.

Or to put it another way: When I walked the beat, I carried a gun.




Negotiate and Win. Proven Strategies from the NYPD's Top Hostage Negotiator
Negotiate and Win: Proven Strategies from the NYPDs Top Hostage Negotiator
ISBN: 0071737774
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 180

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