The Authority of Resolved Weaknesses

In nearly every negotiation both parties have concealed areas of weakness. If our counterpart is effective, they will hunt these areas out and exploit them. So they should! How can they do that with such apparent ease? If we don't deal with our areas of exposure or weakness, they will sense uncertainty and chase it until the weakness is exposed. They will then rightly use that to strengthen their own position. Our own attention is then focused inevitably on the exposed weakness and we are left in a defensive state trying to limit whatever damage is now being done.

The answer lay with us all along. The fact is, we probably knew the weakness existed and even if our counterpart had not raised it, it was busy undermining our confidence and eroding our authority.

The way to handle this is to put some time aside, and list all the elements of your business that are relevant to any negotiation. In one column detail all the strengths; in another, list any weaknesses you can think of. Simply thinking through those weaknesses and listing them, facing them head on, can be of great value. That process on its own can often yield some obvious answers. It may even solve some niggling business problems for you. But the real goal is to turn them into positive attributes or strengths. At the very least, be totally confident in your own ability to deal with any purported weakness in the negotiation. Be confident in your own method of handling it in the process.