<p>Are negotiation skills necessary for success in life?</p>
<p>Negotiation is in fact an essential life skill in all walks of life and eras. Starbuck and Captain Ahab from Moby Dick, Raskolinov from Crime and Punishment, and my experience in a college chemistry class foments this necessity of negotiation.
In Moby Dick, Captain Ahab has the goal of capturing the White Whale. However, he cannot accomplish this goal without the support of members of the crew. Therefore, he at many instances needed to compromise small opinions to keep the crew appeased. In one instance, Starbuck, the first mate demands fro the whale oil casks to be repaired to minimize the loss of profit. While Ahab at first is unwilling to stop the ship lest the crew escapes or deserts. he relents to Starbuck’s demands. Through negotiation, the shipmates receive their promised fortune from the whale oil while Ahab is rest assured that the crew will not escape. This example illustrates how negotiation is the key tool for compromise–a necessity for success in social interaction.
In Crime and Punishment, Raskolinov murders an urserer and another innocent woman connected to the unscrupulous loaner. While there are no witness, a lawyer, through detective work, realizes that Raskolinov is truly the murderer. Through negotiation, Raskolinov saves himself from death by convincing the prosecuting lawyer to argue for a sentence to Siberia. Similarly, Raskolinov’s sister is pursued by a wealthy man for marriage. Though his wealth may save the sister, the man’s cocksure seems sure to cause grief later. Raskolinov astutely negotiates with his mother to disengage from the alliance. Later, the rich man was revealed to be a womanizer confirming Raskolinov’s suspicions. Clearly, negotiation is required to convince individuals to lighten punishments and to save one’s life in some instances. Negotiation can make individual’s in power more understanding of the situation, just as Raskolinov’s argument did with the lawyer.
In the modern world, the ability to negotiate proves equally important. I once had a chemistry professor who said, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” While he was contacting the Blackboard Company in regards to enrolling his students, he asked whether it could offer a slightly lower price. The company consented, making the price ofthe user interface five dollars cheaper. While in this instance, the professor did not have a specific quest or necessity for safety, negotiation enabled him to receive an unexpected, fortuitous benefit. Each of his students was able to save some money. In this case, negotiation enabled him to receive an unanticipated benefit and to modify a situation that seemed unfair to him.
In conclusion, negotiation is in fact an essential skill in life. By using negotiation for the above aspects of life, success is essentially guaranteed. </p>