"We are their bosses. They are on our payroll. Never forget that. Don't act otherwise."
Found on FB via Dahlia Lithwick...
Gabriel Valdez
onpetsroSd03mt8t0gi1ula7h2t0g0agmtc4962lt9418f9662g5gau7547g ·
They want us in disarray and it leaves us reeling and unsure of how to respond. You respond by being in array. You respond by calling fucking everyone and naming precise things you oppose. You point at the smash-and-grab and name it.
The most important thing I ever learned in sales is to ask the question and then let the awkward silence that follows reign. "He broke the law by trying to fire inspectors general. Do you intend to hold him accountable for that?"
Let them hem and haw a moment. Let them know how swiftly we can put them in disarray. When they answer with some bullshit, cut them off: "It's a yes or no question. Do you intend to hold him accountable? Yes or no?"
Always loop back to your question, not their deflection or distraction.
I love when they say, "We're just a constituent office, we don't handle legislative matters". Which is bullshit, I can tell you from working in them those offices are legislative in purpose. But fuck it, ask them anyway:
"Do you imagine this doesn't impact your constituents?"
Twist every silence where they cannot answer toward your point.
When they say, "I can't give my personal opinion on that issue," you tell them:
"I'm not interested in your personal opinion. I'm interested in this office's stance. I called this office, not you. Are you qualified to represent this office?"
Confront. Back to your question. Repeat. Yes/no.
When they say, "I don't know the senator's stance" or "I haven't spoken to the senator today, so I don't know", tell them:
"We pay for this office to know. We pay and resource this office so that you are trained to know. This has been in the news for months, it was announced for months, and the senator is this far behind the issue?"
My favorite line to use is, "We pay these offices to brief you on issues like these, so if you don't know, what are we paying for?"
We are their bosses. They are on our payroll. Never forget that. Don't act otherwise.
When someone wants you to be in disarray, when they cause shocks to exploit the moment, the only way to make them stop is to array yourselves before them in a way that outclasses what they anticipated. Make them pause to think, "Oh, what the fuck did we just bite off?"
We reel at chaos as if we don't know its opposite is organization. And we think, how can we be as powerful? You've got most of the world protesting this, ready to back us up, what could be the largest global array of organized activism that may have ever existed, waiting to be harnessed, waiting to be utilized, waiting to be called upon, to magnify every effort, most of the rest of the world cheering us to beat this, and here we are wondering if we should try, instead of just doing.
The only way to rise to meet the moment is to rise to meet the moment. All that backup, all those people waiting to be called upon, to support what we do, that won't last forever. You harness it, or you fail to. That's not something that happens to you, that's something that you make happen.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Bookmarking. 
Companies will move heaven and earth for someone who does this. My husband had to go to corporate board meetings in NY when he was a VP in California. He didn't wear ties, end of discussion. But he was making them a boatload of money, so when someone asked, "Who's the guy without the tie?" the attitude among the big-wigs was, "Oh, that's Mike. He's from California. It's OK."
Steve Bannon advised them to, "Flood the zone" and along with the help of Fox propaganda, that is exactly what they are doing. 
WE know this! AWARENESS is key!
Master's Thesis at night. One of the books that was required during training for my day job was:
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
3 Sentence Summary
Getting To Yes is the seminal book on negotiating strategy and tactics. Each chapter offers concise, step-by-step instructions for reaching an agreement that satisfies both parties. Applicable whether you’re an elder statesman working to pass a bill, or an employee seeking a raise, this is a must read on the art of win-win negotiations.
5 Key Takeaways
• Separate the people from the problem.
• Focus on interests, not positions.
• Work together to create options that will satisfy both parties.
• Insist on using objective criteria.
• Do the opposite of what the other side expects.
Don’t Bargain Over Positions
• As more attention is paid to positions, less attention is devoted to meeting the underline concerns of the parties
• Bargaining over positions creates incentives that stall settlement. In positional bargaining you try to improve the chance that any settlement reached is favorable to you by starting with an extreme position, by stubbornly holding on to it, by deceiving the other party as to your true views, and by making small concessions only as necessary to keep the negotiations going
• (1) Separate the people from the problem
• Participants should come to see themselves as working side-by-side, attacking the problem, not each other
• (2) Focus on interests, not positions
• (3) Before trying to reach agreements, invent options for mutual gain
• (4) Insist on using objective criteria. This way neither party need give in to the other. Both can defer to a fair solution
1. Separate the People from the Problem
Deal with people problems directly. Don’t try to solve them with substantive concessions
Understanding the other side’s thinking is not simply a useful activity that will help you solve your problem. Their thinking is the problem. Whether you are making a deal or settling a dispute, differences are defined by the difference between your thinking and theirs.
Snip...much, much more here:
https://tylerdevries.com/book-summaries/getting-to-yes/
Also more:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Yes
Of course, all of the techniques require practice. So, you're going to have to find a partner that you can practice with.
There's more than I could share but I don't want everyone to think I'm a smarty pants. Lmk, if you'd like me to share more.
❤️pants
