There was a great article a little while back about how “yes, but” is powerful but “no, but” is almost as powerful. No we won’t do that, but we can do this. Or

There was a great article a little while back about how “yes, but” is powerful but “no, but” is almost as powerful. No we won’t do that, but we can do this. Or that is trickier than it sounds but we will think about it until it makes sense.