My latest crush, EU President Herman Van Rompuy, continues to dazzle me with his general wonderfulness. Already he’s on my ‘freebie’ list (laminated) due to his passion for blogging and haiku writing. He’s a man in touch with his sensitive side and, for this alone, we can overlook the fact that he looks a leeeetle bit like Kermit the Frog.
Hardly able to contain their horror, the BBC sneeringly reported this week that Hermy has moved the venue for the forthcoming EU summit meeting to an old Belgian library, eschewing the purpose built vast hanger type building they usually use for such affairs. It’s a brilliant move. The library is small, so only the leaders will be able to sit in the main part of the building for the meeting. Space is so short that each leader will only be allowed one adviser/nose wiper and they will have to sit in an adjacent room. And the translators will have to sit in the gallery above the main library room. The leaders’ delegations and the media will have to stay in the big modern building down the road, there’s no room for them in the inn. Not even the BBC. Ha ha ha.
Hermy’s spokeperson Miss Piggy Leopold Park said the frog wants to create a “warm, intimate atmosphere. The aim is to have a brainstorming discussion, an open, frank debate about the economy, climate change and Haiti”.
The man is a genius! What better way to try to get a useful, productive debate going than by stripping away the formality of the previous summits, turfing out all the hangers on and forcing the leaders to sit together, very close, side-by-side, look each other in the eye and chew the cud. There will be no hiding place, no army of advisers/translators getting in the way of the business…just good old fashioned debate. Meanwhile the world’s media will be packed like cattle in to the hanger, frantically scribbling in their Grudge Books…
Whilst marveling at Hermy’s bold move I was reminded of someone I used to work for whose motto for assessing proposals during complex negotiations was, ‘Can I live with it?’. At the time I thought this was a cop out to be honest; surely the point of negotiation is to win as many points as possible, and not be budged from your position? But he was wiser than me and, given that we worked for a huge organisation where decision making was slow and ponderous, he really had the right idea. So, in practice, you would consider the other side’s position or request…it might not match your own desire but you would ask youself, ‘but can I live with it?’, and if the answer was ‘yes’ then concede the point and move on. Adopting this approach not only kept negotiations trotting along at a reasonable pace, it also meant you gained some good will…ready to be traded in when you hit a ‘No, I really can’t live with that’ moment. Win win, all round.
I don’t often get involved in high level negotiations these days but, of course, life is one big negotiation isn’t it? So, I’m proposing to bring back the ‘can I life with it?’ motto as I think it could be a really powerful stress buster….’The Megaboys are wearing stripes and tartan together, again. Can I live with it? Well, I don’t like how it looks but they are warm and clean so, yes, I can live with it’…’My house isn’t as tidy as I’d like, but the boys want to do a puzzle with me, so can I live with the mess? Yes, I can live with it’…’MrSpud wants to watch Timeteam for the millionth time. Can I live with it? No I bloody well can’t, give me the remote immediately you funny little man’ And so on.
How can I get in touch with Hermy to introduce him to the power of the ‘Can I live with it?’ negotiation tool because I’m certain a summit meeting of EU leaders is exactly the kind of place it could work its magic? If everyone present was prepared to concede on points they could live with, and only really do battle for the important stuff I’m confident the meeting would be as productive as Hermy is hoping for. The library is an excellent start, but he needs a little icing on the cake.
Should I drop him a memo? In the form of a haiku? 17 syllables (5-7-5)
Can I live with it?
The leaders should ask themselves
If yes, please move on.
Hmm, I’m not sure. It’s lacking a little ‘punch’ (and a few hundred syllables). I might have to quickly learn Flemish and post a comment on his blog.
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