A large proportion of what are called business problems really consist in negotiating with other people. All salesmanship, of course, is negotiation between the seller and the purchaser. And successful salesmanship means bringing that negotiation to a termination satisfactory to both parties.

Whether you are seeking a position for yourself or engaging someone else to work for you, the ultimate outcome will depend upon negotiation. You want to find the right person to fill your vacancy or you wish to be engaged for a certain position that you think would suit your requirements very well, and in either case the outcome is a matter of negotiation. Disputes and misunderstandings often arise between two business firms or between a firm and a customer, and here again harmonious relations in the future—which means more business—will depend upon how the present negotiations are conducted.

In fact, every relation in life will be found to depend upon the ability to make harmonious personal adjustments, which is negotiation. In such matters as family and personal disputes, as well as in those things more usually considered under the head of business, the same principle will be found to apply with even greater force if possible.

Now, the secret of successful negotiation can be put into a nutshell. It is this—See God on both sides of the table. Claim that God is working through both of you, through yourself and through the person with whom you are dealing. Do not seek by will power to get your own way, but affirm that God’s will in that particular matter is being done. Remember that your own way may not be at all good for you. The very thing that you want today may turn out next week to be a nuisance or even a misfortune. Do not try to overreach the other man, to persuade him against his will, or to take the slightest advantage of him in any way. But state your case honestly to the best of your ability; do only what you think is right; and know that God is living and working in your life. Then if you do not make that sale, you will make a better one instead. If you do not get that job, you will get a better one. If you do not make the arrangement that you sought today, a better one will present itself tomorrow.

Never allow yourself to be strained or tense or overeager. God never hurries; He works without effort. In dealing with fellow man put God on both sides of the table, and the outcome will be true success for both parties.

EMMET FOX