Maybe 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 h

Maybe 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.