Mozi
A Belt for a City Wall
When he agrees you are right and still will not stop, let him work out that he cannot win
Mozi, Gongshu (chapter 50)
You have made your case and he has nodded, yet he carries on as planned. How did Mozi get the king of Chu to say he would not attack Song?
What actually happened?
Chu had built scaling ladders and meant to attack the small state of Song. Mozi heard of it, and walked ten days and nights from Qi to the Chu capital. He talked the engineer, Gongshu Ban, into agreement, but the engineer said: I have already told the king. Mozi then put his case to the king, who said it was well put, and still meant to take Song. So he laid down his belt as a city wall and used wooden tablets as machines: nine times Gongshu Ban varied the assault, and nine times Mozi held.
Agreement is not the same as stopping
Gongshu Ban had no reply to Mozi's questions, and the king called the comparison of a rich man stealing from a poor one well put. Both still returned to the old plan. They had already spoken in public; agreeing with an argument was one thing, backing down another.
Your boss nods in the meeting and says you are right, then leaves the schedule as it was. The case was accepted; the promise and the pride are still where they were.
Stop arguing; let him do the sum
Mozi did not go on about benevolence. He set up a rehearsal: belt for the walls, tablets for the machines. Nine attacks, nine defences, until the engineer's methods were spent and Mozi's had some left. The king was shown a result, not a sermon.
Do not say 'this project will fail'. Lay out three features the rival has already shipped and ask which of them we can beat.
Have the reserve actually on the wall
The engineer thought of killing Mozi. Mozi told the king that his disciple Qin Guli and three hundred others were already on Song's walls with his defensive equipment, waiting for Chu. Killing him would not end it. Then the king said he would not attack Song.
At the negotiating table, do not just say 'I won't accept this'. Let him see that you have already agreed terms with another supplier.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: you have made the case, he has agreed, and he is still pushing ahead.
Ask first: is he refusing because he doubts my reasoning, or because he has already said it aloud and cannot back down? Do I hold something I can lay in front of him so he does the sum himself?
Where it goes wrong: showing a reserve you do not have. Mozi's three hundred were really on the wall. Bluff with nobody behind it and it collapses at the first push, and next time no one listens to the reasoning either.
Lines to keep
I know how you would stop me, and I will not say.
Kill me and it still would not end.
Same situation, other people are asking
They beat us on every number and the team has stopped believing.They hold every card and I get one move.The rules here are theirs. Where do I even start?He agrees I'm right and still won't stop.I'm up against something much bigger · all 4 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.