Back on the plane today to come home, I got to relax, unwind and do something I almost never get around to doing otherwise: reading dead-tree based magazines. I keep a pile on top of the microwave for just such an occasion. Today's issue was Entrepreneur from March 2003 (Ok, so I'm a little behind on my reading).
Besides the cover article on leadership which was ok, my favorate page was Marc Diener's Real Deal where he typically outlines an important tip for negotiating and then illustrates how he's blown it or missed it in his past (sometimes in an odd and humorous way).
The article, Looking for a Punch in the Nose?, (or how to be a really annoying negotiator), included such stupid traits as the whiner, the manipulator, and the liar. But he also mentioned the time waster, and included an example (in which he took the title role):
Once, I was trying to lease the floating hull of an abandoned ship owned by the Canadian Navy.
Canadian Navy?
Oh, they actually have their own ships. Ok, lets continueWe were going to use it as a movie set, but they reserved the right to kick us off in the event of war. I objected. "How," I exclaimed, "could anyone shoot a movie with that hanging over their heads?"
Quietly, the representative asked me to name the last time the Canadian Navy had gone to war.
He got me.
