Wang Jian
Six hundred thousand or nothing
Give the real number
Records of the Grand Historian, Bai Qi and Wang Jian
Asked how much you need, too much looks incompetent and too little loses. This is why Wang Jian held to a frightening number.
What actually happened?
The king of Qin asked Li Xin how many men it would take to conquer Chu. Two hundred thousand, said Li Xin. He asked Wang Jian, who said it cannot be done with fewer than six hundred thousand. The king said the general had grown old and timid, that Li Xin was bold and right, and sent Li Xin with two hundred thousand. Wang Jian pleaded illness and went home to Pinyang. Li Xin won at first, was then pursued for three days and three nights, and was broken, with seven commanders killed. The king went to Pinyang in person to apologise. Wang Jian named the same number again.
The low bidder is winning the meeting, not the job
Two hundred thousand pleased the king and six hundred thousand displeased him. In the room where resources are handed out, whoever asks for less always has the advantage: he looks capable and he looks thrifty. The bill is deferred to execution, where there is no longer a way back.
Say three weeks in planning and you are praised on the spot; say eight and your efficiency is questioned. The eight-week estimate is usually the right one.
Do not revise after the refusal
Turned down, Wang Jian did not compromise at four hundred thousand. He went home. That step carries the weight: had he revised, he would have proved the six hundred thousand was padding all along. Holding the number and accepting the cost of being passed over is the only thing that gives it force.
Estimate two people, get cut to one, and say you will try to make it work, and every estimate you give afterwards is discounted automatically.
When they come back, do not soften the terms
With the king at his door apologising, his first move was still to decline, and the figure at the end was the same figure. People at their lowest concede most easily, out of gratitude for being wanted again, which is precisely the one moment when the terms can be made real.
Being called back to rescue a project is when your conditions are easiest to accept. Say nothing out of gratitude and you finish exactly where you started.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: you have to name a resource figure and you are wavering between the real one and the presentable one.
Ask first: if the smaller number turns out not to be enough, who carries that?
Where it goes wrong: adding I will try to make it work after being cut; and being too grateful to set terms when they come back asking for help.
Lines to keep
It cannot be done with fewer than six hundred thousand men.
If you must use me, it is still six hundred thousand.
Revise the number after a refusal and you have proved it was padding.
Same situation, other people are asking
I have said this is my limit three times and nobody treats it as one.They cut what I asked for in half and told me to make it work.They don't believe I mean it · all 2 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.