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If you are negotiating you must do so in a spirit of reconciliation, not from the point of view of issuing ultimatums.
Nelson Mandela
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Negotiation should focus on understanding and healing rather than creating conflict through demands.

In this quote, Nelson Mandela emphasizes the importance of approaching negotiations with a mindset aimed at reconciliation. Rather than adopting a confrontational stance that involves issuing ultimatums, one should strive for mutual understanding and cooperation, leading to more productive and harmonious outcomes.

Themes

NegotiationReconciliationPeaceUnderstandingCooperation

In practice

Example use cases

In a business meeting discussing contract terms, one could use this quote to encourage a collaborative atmosphere.

More from Nelson Mandela

We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.
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What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.
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The past is a rich resource on which we can draw in order to make decisions for the future, but it does not dictate our choices. We should look back at the past and select what is good, and leave behind what is bad.
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We signal that good can be achieved amongst human beings who are prepared to trust, prepared to believe in the goodness of people.
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After one has been in prison, it is the small things that one appreciates: being able to take a walk whenever one wants, going into a shop and buying a newspaper, speaking or choosing to remain silent. The simple act of being able to control one's person.
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I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses.
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