GREATNESS : NEGOTIATING : Monty Python - Life of Brian - The Haggle scene

                                                     Every day we try to get our way.

How do we go about this, and who do we interact with during these transactions of 'wants'? Whether or not we notice it, we are negotiating every day; with our boss, girlfriends, buddies, colleagues, and family. Negotiation allows us to use democratic means of communication to get things done, get what we want, and maximize our quality of life.

In the Harvard Business Essentials book titled: Negotiation; there is a great example of the strategic value of negotiating rather than not.

In the fifteenth-century France's King Louis XI had a savvy way of differing war with the English King Edward IV. When the English army came over to France with intention of war and conquer, King Louis XI chose to negotiate the potentially damaging affair.

Understanding that the war would be long and very costly, the French King decided that a negotation in where he would pay 50,000 pounds per year for the rest of King Edward's IV life (which proved to be short) would be a better deal. After the peace treaty was signed King Louis XI hosted a huge party for the English army before their departure back home.

King Louis XI remarked about the close encounter by stating: "I have chased the English out of France more easily than my father ever did; he drove them out by force and arms while I have driven them out by force of meat pies and good wine."