5 Business Skills Every IT Pro Must Master (Collection)

Truth 41Using power responsibly

Beer ads advise that people should drink responsibly. The same advice is true in negotiation: Use power responsibly. Power is the use of force or coercion—psychological, behavioral, or physical.

• You use psychological power when you threaten to "never trust someone again."
• You use behavioral power when you threaten to "take all the money out of the joint checking account."
• You use physical power when you hit the other party in the gut.

First and foremost, I don't advocate using physical power under any circumstance, except possibly self-defense. However, there are times in life when you might be justified in using psychological or behavioral power.

The main motive for using power is to move the party off an unreasonable ...