This shift in mindset fosters trust (crucial for negotiating), helps you look for ‘win-wins’, and decreases the likelihood the deal will die on the table.Ī couple getting a divorce can try, instead of fighting to get the better of the other while lining their lawyers’ pockets, to keep as much money for the two of them (and out of the billable hours of the lawyers) as possible. Good negotiating is working out how to grow the size of the pie for everyone, not just fighting over who gets what (so-called ‘distributive bargaining’). So it’s possible for everyone to benefit in a “win-win situation”. In positive-sum games we’re adding to the size of the pie, meaning there are more spoils for everyone to share. In a zero-sum game, a rational actor seeking the greatest gain for himself or herself will necessarily be seeking the maximum loss for the other actor. If one side gets $1,000 more, that means the other side gets $1,000 less: the gains and losses add up to zero.

It’s impossible for someone to advance their position without the other person losing out. In a zero-sum game we’re fighting over how the pie is distributed. Zero- and positive-sum situations can be framed as ‘games’ involving the size of a pie, and how that pie is distributed (for example, land, profit, timeshare of a condo, or political power). What is zero- vs positive-sum Definition and explanation

Zero sum politics definition