Election Day is coming up fast on Tuesday, November 5th. Our family will be getting our ballots in today. Fun fact, we have a new voter in the house with our son now 18! You can either mail your ballot in postage-free (King County Elections recommends putting it in the mail by today – Friday, November 1st to be on the safe side; it has to be postmarked by the 5th in order to be counted) or drop it off in person 24 hours a day at a ballot drop box or during business hours at a vote center, which will be open until 8 pm on Election Day. *Thank you, Sol, for outlining these details in your last week’s Civic Minute. If you are looking for more resources from Sol – visit & subscribe here. Another fun fact, I’ve been reading Sol’s Civic Minute newsletter for over 10 years now on every Sunday morning. A really good example of consistency in “flow” in our business. Congratulations, Sol!

Today’s FWL post continues with a getting back to the basics focus, with this week featuring negotiations. With the election season very much here, my podcast feed is filled with interesting and relevant content. I stumbled upon a beautiful conversation between Simon Sinek and William Ury.

“Few people on this planet have as much experience making peace as William Ury. William spent decades as a peace negotiator, resolving the world’s most intractable conflicts — from avoiding nuclear catastrophe in the Cold War to mediating ethnic tensions and civil wars. Considered one of the world’s pre-eminent negotiation experts, he’s written several books on the subject, including the best-selling Getting To Yes. His latest book is titled Possible.” – This…is A Bit of Optimism (podcast)

Simon sat down and dove deep into conversation with William on the topic of the possibility of peace in an increasingly conflicted world. He shares some great stories with me from his career and what he’s learned about the right way to influence others. While I appreciated this from a global scale, I also appreciated the incredible takeaways in practical application in negotiations.

Are all negotiations the same thing? Situational differences exist, yet fundamentally, William would argue that at the root of it they are the same. We are humans existing with other humans, and that with change comes more conflict; yet conflict is not necessarily bad. Both peace and negotiations are a process.

This is not a Pollyanna conversation. This is a real conversation. How might we each take increased focus and agency in meeting perceived animosity with curiosity? What self do we want to bring to that next hard conversation? What I do know, is that we each have a choice in this answer.

And when we think about bringing value to our clients, let’s put our skills in negotiation high on our list. I am hopeful this conversation I bring to you today will help you in a small or big way. I really enjoyed it—well heck, three times this week! This episode is 42 minutes…

Full Episode here. Peace Is A Process
with negotiation expert William Ury

FWL will be back after the election and after our daughter turns 16. Yes, Piper shares a birthday with election day. Until then, be well. – Laura