On Fairness

In an MBA program, notions of fairness are hardly ever top of mind or ripe for discussion. Instead, we're always talking about competitive advantage, market domination, extracting value...winning. Also, business school is overrun with type-A individuals, who are predominately process oriented with concrete goals, which typically entail either looking good, getting ahead, or both. But what about fairness?

Ironically, the one class that I thought would be most focused on "winning" conjures the ideals of fairness more than any other--Negotiations. We spend our class time on live negotiations. So to say the least, the class is a meeting of egos. But the best negotiators aren't the ones with the biggest egos. They don't enter into a negotiation with the intent simply to be the winner at the expense of the loser. They are the ones who work hard to communicate, create value, mitigate risk for both sides, and innovate.

There is an art to negotiation, as with any human exchange, and when there is wiggle room that art can be the equivalent of millions of dollars. But in the end, a negotiation is truly worthwhile only if both sides win. Of course, it's always nice to win a little more.

And sometimes the only fair deal is no deal at all.