Is this our reality?  It sure feels that way!  When did compromise become a four-letter word?  It has been made to feel like compromising is losing.  Sure, losing stinks and winning is extremely important when it comes to fighting a disease, cancer or like my colleagues when you are in a deadly combat situation.  Who wants to lose then, I would not accept losing either?  Sure, losing is not what we bargained for but why does compromise have to be made out to be losing.  It really doesn’t.

If our founding fathers hadn’t compromised what and where would we be today?  Would we have the same model of government, any Bill of Rights, a Constitution or even the ability to freely express ourselves.   I can’t tell, nor can you.

What I can say is that we all have our own views and compromising is about finding the middle ground where we can work together and solve problems.  Let’s respect the fact that we come from different backgrounds, socio-economic environments, life experiences and other life altering situations.  But when faced with decisions, there will always be common ground.  Sure, it may take time to find it, but trust me it is there.  How do you find it, well its not simple, but if you keep out the rhetoric, the blame, the mistrust, the anger, the need to win over the other side, you can find it.  Yes, the conversations will get loud, but maturity says, lower the heat.  Nothing good comes out of a heated situation. 

Final decisions and acts in business and in government certainly wont make everyone happy, but we must compromise for the greater good.  Going out in public and blasting the other side for their failures or un-willingness to compromise is not helpful.  The way to make compromise a good word is to tone down our rhetoric and discourse if we don’t get everything we want.  We must set the bar higher and accept that we can’t get everything we want in life, but that doesn’t have to make us angry or pit us against each other.  If we can compromise and still respect the fact that neither side got all they want and a decision for the greater good has been made, doesn’t that make compromise a good word?

I may be wrong, but compromise is in my toolkit.  If you don’t have it in yours, consider adding it.  You may just find yourself a little less angry and way more satisfied. 

Authored By: Mitch Douglass, Managing Director

*Photo Credit: Unknown