Negotiation

A wealthy merchant from the east passed away. In his will, the man stated an equal division of his wealth to his 3 sons. His most treasured camels were to be divided in a rather challenging way.

According to the will the eldest son was to be given half (1/2) of the camels, the middle son was to be given one-third (1/3rd) of the camels, and the youngest son was to be given one-ninth (1/9th) of the camels. The merchant had 17 camels. As it was not possible to divide 17 camels into half, one-third, or even into one-ninth. The 3 sons started fighting with each other for their fair share of the camels.

Since the sons were not able to distribute the camel among them, they went to a wise man for advice. The wise man patiently listened to the sons’ dilemma. After carefully understanding the situation the wise man brought one of his camels and added it to the 17 camels of the merchant. That increased the total to eighteen (18) camels.

Now, he started reading the deceased father’s will and divided the camels. Half of eighteen is nine. So he gave the eldest son nine camels. One-third of the eighteen is six, so he gave the middle son six camels. The youngest son got one-ninth of the eighteen camels, so he gave him two camels.

After giving nine, six, and two camels to the sons, he successfully distributed seventeen camels. The wise man took back his camel.

Moral: The attitude of negotiation and problem solving is to find the 18th camel i.e. the common ground. Once a person is able to find the common ground, the issue is resolved. It is difficult at times. However, to reach a solution, the first step is to believe that there is a solution. If we think that there is no solution, we won’t be able to reach anywhere!