E. L. James Quotes

Successful negotiation is not about getting to 'yes'; it's about mastering 'no' and understanding what the path to an agreement is.

Politics is not really different from marriage. You cannot get things done in your relationship if you tell your wife: Look, if you haven't made the bed and if you don't get the food on the table, I will go and just hire someone and you will become irrelevant. That is not how you make a marriage work.

Solutions must be based on compromises.

I can definitely be tough when pushed. In relationships, you have to take a stand for who you are and how you're willing to be treated.

You learn how to compromise and you learn how to read each other. Honestly, being in a band with two guys has prepared me so much for when it's time for me to get married!

My first choice was to work it out with Larry Brown. I needed Larry and I gave him 50 million bucks. This is a situation that I'm in and I'll handle it and I'll make it work.

I think in most relationships that have problems, there's fault on both sides. And in order for it to work, there has to be some common ground that's shared. And it's not just one person making amends.

My job is to come up with something that you like and you agree with that you would play wholeheartedly. If we disagree, I may not be doing my job correctly.

Between you and me, I think that may be one of the things that will help with the collaboration, because there are things Eric thinks I'm moving too quickly on, and there are things I think he's dragging out. When it gets to the editor they can arbitrate.

I hope it goes beyond meeting with them to a willingness to listen and compromise on issues.

You cannot compromise unless people talk to you.

I believe any time that both parties are talking, it's a good thing.

That is where consensus-building begins-with the idea that you have your own truth, but that the negotiator on the other side of the table has his own truth as well.

The belief in the therapeutic and redemptive force of dialogue depends on the assumption … that, after all, no idea is worth fighting over to the death and that we can always reach a position of accommodation if only we will sit down and talk it out

Negotiating is a little like jazz. You improvise on a theme. You know where you want to go, but you’re not always sure how to get there.

Compromise, compromise and compromise.

I don’t always agree with my wife, but we discuss the issue with love and respect. And then I say “yes.”

It’s hard to cut a deal if you don’t know who to make a deal with.

if we stop talking at one another, and start talking with one another, we can get a lot done.

The more people talk directly to each other, the better. Dialogue is the way of solving issues.

A huge amount of negotiations and diplomacy has nothing to do with bartering or arguing but is just trying to get everyone [doing the negotiating] on the same page. It takes yours, days, even weeks sometimes.

What I've learned - after working for, I guess, some time now - is when you're approaching a relationship like that, like, any working relationship, it's good to be open. To know that someone might have a different way of doing things and listen to them. And hopefully, you come to a common understanding.

Diplomacy is listening to what the other guy needs. Preserving your own position, but listening to the other guy. You have to develop relationships with other people so when the tough times come, you can work together.

Unfortunately, I am not the typical, old-school, 'Yes dear, you're right,' just to get out of a situation. I am more of the type to work it out until you think I'm right or I think you're right.

When you start to work with someone, there's a negotiation that takes place involving what's going to happen when you have a difference of opinion. Most attempts at collaboration never survive the negotiation. Merely being agreeable is not enough.