“Empowered Customers are disrupting every industry; competitive barriers like manufacturing strength, distribution power, and information mastery can’t save you. In this age of the Customer, the only sustainable competitive advantage is knowledge of and engagement with Customers. The successful companies will be Customer-obsessed. Those that master the Customer data flow and improve frontline Customer staff will have the edge.”

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Competitive Strategy in The Age Of The Customer

No one side can have it all.  Both sides in an issue can’t afford to come up empty – without a bone – on certain issues.  However, with cooperation and compromise from all parties, most things can be worked out.

Compromise is often looked upon as weakness.  When a US President pushed to complete a challenging change in policy, he was asked whether he would settle for half a loaf of bread.  He said he would be willing to settle for one slice at a time.

Politics involve constant compromise.  Business does too:  negotiating contracts, closing deals, hiring good people, etc.

Certainly, there are times when you can not nor should not compromise. Never compromise your principles, for example.  Never give in on ethics or potentially illegal activities.  It’s unacceptable to be less than honest in your dealings. I hope that a certain Swiss ‘businessman’ who failed to honor his word in 2009 is listening…

You know what you need, what you are prepared to give up, what you will never budge on.  Do you know whether the other party knows what they want, what they need and what they are willing to give on?

Fred Jandt, author of Win/Win Negotiating, says, “Keep in mind that the better you understand what you want and why you want it, the better your chances will be of acquiring it.”

Do you carry a Visa card?  Its genesis was the result of a genuine compromise.  Karl Weick shares the story in ‘Managing as Designing’.

In the early 1970s, National BankAmericard Incorporated turned around the Bank of America’s faltering credit card business in the United States.  Soon after, BankAmericard licensees around the world wanted NBI’s help too.  The problems were enormous:  each licensee had different marketing, computer and operational systems, as well as different language, currency, culture and legal systems.  Banks were using computer punch cards and tape, and there was no Internet.  After nearly two years of tense negotiations, the organizing committee met to try to resolve three deal-breaking disagreements.  Positions had hardened and compromise seemed unlikely.

Shortly before that meeting, committee chairman Dee Hock reflected on how much the international group had achieved.  It dawned on him that “at critical moments, all participants had felt compelled to succeed . . . all had been willing to compromise.  They had not thought of winning or losing but of a larger sense of purpose and concept of community that could transcend and enfold them.”

The final meeting was contentious.  The Canadian banks refused to participate and withdrew, so Hock said they would reconvene the next morning in order to plan how to disband.  Before adjourning, Hock invited everyone to a grand dinner that evening in recognition of their efforts to try to make the organization work.

After dinner, there was brief reminiscing about shared experiences and obstacles overcome.  Then the servers placed a small wrapped gift in front of each person.  Hock asked everyone to open them.

He said:  “We wanted to give you something that you could keep … as a reminder of this day.  On one cuff link is half of the world surrounded with the phrase ‘the will to succeed’ and the second cuff link is the other half of the world and the phrase ‘the grace to compromise.’  We meet tomorrow for the final time to disband the effort after two arduous years.  I have one last request.  Will you please wear the cuff links to the meeting in the morning?  When we part we will take with us a reminder for the rest of our lives that the world can never be united through us because we lack the will to succeed and the grace to compromise.  But if by some miracle our differences dissolve before morning, this gift will remind us that the world was united because we did have the will to succeed and the grace to compromise.”

Then Hock sat down.  Absolute silence, until one of Hock’s Canadian friends exclaimed, “You miserable bastard!”  The room erupted in laughter.

The next morning everyone was wearing the cuff links.  By noon, agreement was reached on every issue and VISA International was born.

The mouse immediately ran into the barnyard to warn the other animals, “Hey guys, there’s a mousetrap in the farmhouse!”

The hen clucked “It’s not my problem!  I’m not a mouse.”

The pig responded.  “Sorry to hear the news, but all I can do is recommend that you don’t get caught in it.”

“It’s really no big deal, just ignore the thing.” said the cow.

The mouse returned to his little hole in the wall to wait for the farmer and his wife to go to sleep so that he could begin his daily quest for a bit of leftover cheese in the darkness.  The sudden snapping sound of the mousetrap disfiguring its prey caught everyone by surprise.

The first on the scene was the farmer’s wife. She was half asleep and failed to notice the venomous snake on the floor until it bit her. The snake apparently entered the house looking for a rodent dinner when it got caught in the trap.  The farmer rushed his wife to the hospital for treatment and then brought her back to the farm where the side-effects from the drugs and venom antidote created a high fever and excruciating pain.

On the premise that chicken soup would reduce the fever, the farmer sacrificed his chicken for the soup.  But the wife’s condition did not improve. Friends provided help around the clock so that the farmer could tend to his crops and animals.  In order to feed them the farmer butchered the pig.  Alas, the wife did not survive the week and hundreds more came to her funeral forcing the farmer to slaughter the cow to provide enough meat for the hungry and respectful crowd.

The mouse watched the events unfold with great sadness from his little hole in the wall. All his barnyard friends (the ones who ignored his warning) were now gone.

We all know stories like that:  we see a problem and try to warn our co-workers but they just don’t see the big picture until it’s too late.

When one area of your company is in trouble, chances are good that the entire company’s performance will feel the impact.  For example, if there are issues with production, sales will be impacted when Customers don’t receive their orders on time. Similarly, sales may be slow and it is only a question of when production will be reduced to reflect the decrease in demand.

Phone lines and websites that can’t keep up with demand can shut down an operation overnight and permanently damage the brand and your reputation even if sales are high and production is on schedule.  A natural disaster such as snowstorm, hail, hurricane or flood will derail the most efficient of businesses unless contingency plans are in place for remote operation.

It really does not matter if you are a one-person operation or a team player in a major corporation, you should always be prepared and ask yourself:  What could go wrong?

At BoxOnline, we call this process Protecting the Plan.

Protect Your Plan - Put our PPA Process to work today

A planned response to situations that have the potential for wiping out profit and ruining your business is what gives you that extra edge should disaster strike.

Setting up a contingency plan or taking preventative measures to minimize the most likely causes of potential problems are two processes that you can initiate immediately. We have well over a decade of Client experience Protecting The Plan and look forward to helping you and your team feel more at ease, knowing that you are prepared for the worst.

Remember the lesson many of us learned in school, the time to study for a test is before you take it.

Be prepared, or be prepared to fail.