What if there were a way to solve not only the most unbalanced, complex and persistent conflicts of our time… but productively harness the challenging nature of their intractable conditions to shape and guide solution?
We can.
You And What Army introduces a revolutionary approach to resolving conflict… by strategically evolving it.
From global warming and energy dependency to human trafficking and border violence… from poverty and domestic violence to failing schools, corrupt political governance and foreign hostilities… the key to successfully evolving the most challenging conflicts is to realize that every aspect of contention is an opportunity to influence outcome.
From conditions to stakeholders to the root cause and incentive to solve… everything provides a theater for strategic negotiation.
Despite its promise, most people – from emboldened CEOs to experts trained in their fields to diplomats and even professional advocates never recognize the 'rules of the game', because they don’t even realize they are playing it.
From the moment of controversy among adversaries, every action or inaction produces an effect which has the potential to be anticipated, quantified and implemented as leverage toward a structured accord.
Those who fail to understand the positive potential of dissent, routinely and quite without conscious regard, cede their own role in the potential of success as a token of their default… its value to be determined by those who are aware.
In a world fraught with conflict – sometimes hostile conflict – where access to justice can be politically, even physically barred, negotiation can be a powerfully viable avenue toward resolution.
Negotiation, however, implies a compromising process of ‘give and take’ from those who are relatively equitably situated. For those in gravely unbalanced situations and facing enormous odds, rebalancing the field demands a greatly enhanced degree of insight, planning and persistence… evolving adversaries and conditions while simultaneously securing vital interests.
With the capacity to be summoned toward a long-range campaign, negotiation, as a tool of equity and transformation, can fulfill an extraordinarily targeted and disciplined role in illuminating truth; paving access toward justice; and, facilitating sound social evolution, all the while serving short-term needs.
Developed in such a way, negotiation demands broad situational analysis; the design and implementation of effective strategies; vigorous community organizing; the building of sustainable coalitions; navigating and leveraging bureaucracies; neutralizing misinformation; launching a relevant education and media campaign; and, leveraging common principals of law.
For the figuratively outgunned, inwardly timid, burnt out or socially defunct, this type of coordinated approach may appear beneficial, but nonetheless overwhelming.
Offering detailed and scalable field solutions, You And What Army?... is a practical yet comprehensive guide loaded with powerful, straight-forward applications and techniques useful in structuring an effective, broad-based and far-reaching negotiation campaign. Further, it contains thirty-seven worksheets which, once completed, can amount to a strategically evolving playbook.
This game-changing guide introduces the innovative concept of “Evolved Negotiations” – a new and blended approach to solving unbalanced, persistent or complex conflicts which, through debilitating system decay and the attempted preservation of status quo, have come to unnecessarily plague our modern culture and undermine productive adaptation to current and future challenges, both locally and globally.
Exploration of the causes of conflict as well as practical applications of potential solutions are demonstrated through a richly presented and easily-navigated, step-by-step methodology capable of helping even the most unskilled practitioner of negotiations turn objections into concessions and adversaries into advocates.
Mahatma Ghandi has said, "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members".
You And What Army? endeavors to level the field by first fortifying and finally eliminating weakness in the disadvantaged while simultaneously guiding one's adversary toward a more amenable negotiating position.
Designed to particularly benefit those who are critically overwhelmed and out-resourced, just a small sampling of You And What Army?... reveals:
- The fifteen steps involved in developing an evolved negotiation campaign, and the top twenty assets to safeguard;
- The five predominant communication styles and how to avoid misinterpreting one of the most common responsible for conflict escalation;
- How to identify and deconstruct misinformation, including the twenty-three signs of a bureaucratic smokescreen.
- How to better fortify the seven inherent weaknesses of any coalition;
- How to initiate, leverage and sustain the nine key benefits of momentum;
- The six steps involved in designing effective strategies, and a blueprint for identifying and constructing the most effective leverage;
- How to avoid the fifty hallmarks of poor communication, while leveraging the seven essentials of a persuasive proposal;
The Occupy Wall Street movement perfectly illustrates modern conflict and why we must embrace it in order to productively guide it.
Similar to the Tea Party movement, proliferation highlights growing public resentment toward policy. In the case of Occupy Wall Street, there is frustration over policy which increasingly serves an elite class at the expense of and to the exclusion of the governed public.
Mischaracterizing or minimizing the cause of this unrest or the impetus of those compelled to participate will only heighten conflict. Recognizing its cause and fairly addressing legitimate social need can contribute necessary stability and facilitate positive transformation.
We must recognize that change is inevitable. Chaos is not.
Even within the earliest stages of disorganized yet impassioned protest, constructive opportunities have existed for the disenfranchised and policy makers to evolve conditions together with one another.
Protesters likely don’t realize they are already negotiating, and are therefore unwittingly sacrificing important leverage.
Policy makers are predictably more concerned with appearances and political posturing than assuming a sound leadership position and productively engaging demonstrators.
This equates to missed opportunities on all sides. As these missed opportunities continue, they will become more pronounced - as will conflict. The greatest assurance of productive outcome is awareness and strategic action. After all, those who do not fully realize their own role in conflict are destined to be guided by those who do. "You And What Army?..." illuminates the field of possibility.
Our democratic republic was established to handle this type of controversy, and barring inappropriate influence undermining its principals, our Constitution provides a balanced suite of mechanisms encouraging robust debate and the application of fair policy.
The real adversary in this and similar conflicts throughout history is a rigid reluctance to acknowledge the need for change, which is a poor choice artificially limiting potential benefit and further constricting already distressed, corrupted and failing systems.
You And What Army?... echoes the manifesto of the 99 percent now living far outside of wealth and privilege.
As this excerpt from the chapter Enhance Negotiation Predictability through Rational Decision and the Development of Influential Strategies demonstrates:
“Solution can be thought of as a holistic and dimensional process of reverse engineering conflict to the point of beginning, then re-balancing factors going forward through avenues of achievement. If attrition or innovation have respectively removed or introduced components of consideration, simply factor these respectively out or into resolution according to their potential and on balance with short as well as long range objectives.
Conflicts, then, present broadly enriched opportunities for solution-seeking, most readily achieved when we switch from a preservation to a potentials point of view.”
Long recognized internationally by scholars, advocates, diplomats, business and military leaders, You And What Army?... is a necessary guide for negotiators, analysts, strategists, advocacy organizations, academics, attorneys, elected and appointed officials, and anyone looking to bring effective insight, skill and leverage to unbalanced negotiations demanding situational maturity.
Written by an author with years of experience working both with and in effective opposition to evolve arguably the most powerful and under-regulated industry in the world, You And What Army?... describes methods new as well as known – most of which have been personally experienced, tested and fine-tuned by the author under some of the most persistent, crisis-oriented, high stakes, and unbalanced field conditions.
You And What Army?... was literally forged in the fire of conflict and cool tempered. As such, it represents a tried tool meant to reliably endure real use by many different hands under many different circumstances.
You And What Army?... isn’t just an audacious question. It’s an ambitious and necessary attitude in the face of overwhelming odds.
Even when we're cut off at the knees, we can stand tall when we stand on one another's shoulders and stand together on the side of justice.
From one who has lived it, I promise you…
Truth exists even when it is denied. Justice exists even when access is barred. Courage exists even when hope is lost.
