I once participated in the negotiation of a decently large franchisee renewal. The franchisee was solid enough and was renewing its contract with corporate to continue operate in a few smaller countries. However, the negotiations got hung up on one crucial point. The franchisee was not willing to assume unlimited currency risk. Or, let me put it another way, the corporation was insisting on having a minimum annual guarantee in a currency foreign to the region where the franchisee operated. By the time I got involved both sides were issuing ultimatums and unwilling to back down. I was embarassed of my employer and the vice-president refusing to budge on an issue in which he was clearly out of his element (his primary experience was US only operations). After failing to convince this executive how... imprudent... the position was, I decided to subtlety cut down his position by explaining to and convincing some of the executive's colleagues that this decision was "unwise to pursue at this juncture." At the end of this process, there were two key lessons for me: 1) be willing to be wrong and solicit the feedback of those more knowledgeable than myself, and 2) a lack of understanding of a simple concept (an unforced error, as I like to call them) can consume significant amount of time at all levels of the organization.
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