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“Power unexercised is pointless” Hopefully Pakistan doesn't feel that way about its nuclear arsenal. I found that example perplexing. He puts the company into
by frossie 17y ago
“Power unexercised is pointless”
Hopefully Pakistan doesn't feel that way about its nuclear arsenal.
I found that example perplexing. He puts the company into liquidation without discussing it with the other shareholders first. Why is this a good thing?
- Deestan 17y agoPakistan doesn't actually have to fire the weapons; merely having the weapons at all lets them exercise more political power than they would otherwise have.
- BobbyH 17y agoMaybe a more precise way of putting this is "Power is the basis of your leverage in any negotiation, so start any negotiation by thinking about what power you have. The corollary to this would be that any power you are unwilling to exercise is pointless." This sounds like a rephrasing of BATNA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiated_agreement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiate...). To apply this to your metaphor, if Pakistan was unwilling to use its nuclear arsenal in any scenario, it would be pointless. Re: putting his company into liquidation, we don't know the exact story, but I presume that he realized that (1) he had the power to put the company into liquidation and (2) he 100% wanted to put it into liquidation. So he didn't negotiate with his stubborn partners, he just exercised his BATNA.
- frossie 17y agoEdit to comments below: but that is not what he does; he does not use his directorial power for leverage, he just goes ahead and does it without even telling anyone. If he is so confident about his position, why doesn't he tell people and then do it anyway? I don't know the legal implications of liquidating a business, but that whole paragraph read as "I did it because I could and so should you". I guess I am still confused as to the moral of the story.