The French architect Francois Spoerry conceived of and created the canalised town of Port Grimaud in the Gulf of St Tropez in the 1960’s and 1970’s. It consists largely of small houses – maisons a pecheur – which have a mooring in front of their garden. He originally imagined his houses would be inhabited by fishermen who moored their boats at their houses. In reality Port Grimaud has become a popular holiday destination and a model for other towns on the water worldwide. His concept was to have one foot in the water and one in the world.
 
What I think Port Grimaud and its creator build on so well is variety. The contrast between land and sea, work and play embodied in a house with a boat moored in front of it. Variety matters in working life whether it is getting away from your virtual or real office or finding different ways to do things. 
 
This is an important topic. The University of Queensland in Australia is conducting research on  Is variety the spice of working life? commenting in an era where burnout is becoming more and more prevalent in the workforce, the study will look at the effect a varied work role has on employees’ wellbeing and performance.While this older study from the University of Leicester concludes  People who are given greater variety and independence in their jobs feel both less stressed and more satisfied.
 
The World Happiness Report 2017 (yes there is such a thing and it is a serious work with the authors on the section On Happiness at work from Said Business School University of Oxford and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology) suggests that Variety and education are valuable. If you do the same thing every day, you’re going to be unsatisfied. Workers with some variety in their work, and those who have the opportunity to learn new skills regularly report higher levels of happiness and well being.
 
Of course, you can go too far in this day and age of instant communication when multi-tasking can itself be stressful. Still working on your smart phone on a beach in the sunshine in the South of France is still very different from doing the same thing all the time in an office building in Slough (a town in the UK’s Thames Valley).
 
As Coco Chanel said There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time.
 
It was William Cowper the Eighteenth-Century English poet and hymnist who originally wrote Variety’s the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour.I think he was very right.

Yesterday I drove over 800 miles in one day, not quite planned, but it sort of worked out that way. Most of this was on French motorways. We had two drivers but even so this presents challenges – tiredness, lack of concentration, driving through heavy rain with bad visibility. What works in that sort of situation is to have simple rules. Drive carefully. Keep away from the car in front. Stop whenever you are tired (French motorways are excellent for this with aires (or rest areas) every 10 kilometres or so). Plan a route that is quieter and avoids centres of traffic congestion.
 
This same applies I suggest to working under pressure – being asked or required to give urgent and complex advice or carry out some critical activity within a very tight timeframe. Here having some sort of set of rules you can apply, developed from experience of previous similar situations, can really help when the adrenalin is coursing and a first and natural reaction may be to panic.
 
Here by way of example are some sample rules for my work as a professional legal adviser when faced with a new time critical matter. 

1. Get the facts straight and complete – too often when everybody is in a hurry they don’t convey the full story.
2. Work out what the actual legal position is and indeed what legal system applies in the first place – taking specialist advice if it is an area I am not familiar or sufficiently expertise in.
3. Ascertain whether there is a contract and if so where is it and what express rights that sets out which may be relevant.
4. Work the potential consequences for my client arising out of this set of circumstances. 
5. Consult with other who may need to be involved,perhaps senior management stakeholders.
6. Develop a workable plan of action and an associated timetable.

 
I don’t pretend this list is perfect, but it illustrates the idea well. It’s also something nobody teaches you at law school. It is emulated in many professional fields – aircraft cockpit checks being a prime example – here is a 1944 Pilot and Copilot Cockpit Checklist for World War Two Boeing B17 Flying Fortress bombers. It advises “No matter how familiar you become with your plane, there is always a chance that you will forget something. Do not rely on your memory. Always use checklists.”
 
The context is explained in this Harvard School of Public Health article Fighter pilots use checklists to avoid deadly errors. Why not surgeons, too?So complex was the new B-17 bomber introduced during World War II that a star aviator crashed the mighty aircraft during its demonstration flight. Then the U.S. Army Air Corps introduced its now-legendary safety checklist for pilots and crews to use in the cockpit. The risk of fatal errors plummeted, and checklists became mandatory. It goes on to advocate a checklist for surgical procedures.
 
Another obvious application of this principle is crisis management. I like this Forbes article You Have 15 Minutes to Respond to a Crisis: A CheckList Of Do’s and Don’tswhich comments When a crisis hits, how you respond in the first 15 minutes can make or break your organization – and your reputation.
 
There is even a book written by Atul Gawande, an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher, called The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right. He sagely remarks One essential characteristic of modern life is that we all depend on systems—on assemblages of people or technologies or both—and among our most profound difficulties is making them work.
 
The American comedian Jon Stewart sums it up quite nicely. I watch a lot of astronaut movies....Mostly Star Wars. And even Han and Chewie use a checklist.
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As I look back over the last year and longer throughout my career I am struck by the challenges presented by advising on large and complex outsourcing contract negotiations. The hours spent in conference rooms, from the well-appointed suites in lawyers’ offices and hotels, to basement rooms without windows. The well-meaning customers who keep changing their requirements because they never really understood them in the first place. Suppliers struggling to find a way to meet demands for low cost while still delivering high quality.
 
And yet despite all the tension and tedium these major transactions with their extreme challenges bring with them immense opportunity. You never come out the same as you started. You always learn something of value whether it is about your specialist subject, in my case the law, the rapidly evolving technology underpinning the contract delivery or the best way to approach a difficult negotiation.
 
But, and here’s the real challenge – it depends how we approach these tough situations. It’s all too easy to feel sorry for ourselves and the difficulties these tough deals always present. It really helps to see them as opportunities not problems. This blog on 7 Lessons You learn Through Life’s Challenges whilst more general in its approach than professional negotiations suggests quite sagely that  Instead of looking at external circumstances and blaming them for unfortunate life events, look at yourself first and see if there’s anything you can improve. Can you change the way you live so that your life situation can improve?
 
In a similar vein this blog 10 Simple Things You Can Do To Get Through Difficult Times proposes that our ability to navigate the difficult times, you not only live a happier life, but you also grow as person.
 
Returning to my negotiation example it is when things get tough that you can learn most. I like, for example this Harvard Law School Blog on How to Negotiate Under Pressure and this Stanford piece Five Steps to Better Negotiating which suggests a different approach But what if you reframed the whole idea, to think of a negotiation not as a fight but as a problem-solving exercise? And one in which emotions can play a systematic and powerful role?
 
All improvement derives from and is honed by the biggest professional challenges we face. Without them we would stand still or maybe even move backward. And sometimes it can be as simple as having the courage to attend the next day’s meeting. As Winston Churchill said “If you are going through hell, keep going.”
 
It is also about attitude and seeking solutions not arguments, dealing in ideas and resolution not fighting over petty issues. Eleanor Roosevelt once commented “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
 
Dale Carnegie gets it about right when he says "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
 
For me the final word on this subject of learning from adversity goes to Martin Luther  King The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Wikipedia describes T-shirts as a style of unisex fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. It describes their history as follows: The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century. First, the one-piece union suit underwear was cut into separate top and bottom garments, with the top long enough to tuck under the waistband of the bottoms. With and without buttons, they were adopted by miners and stevedores during the late 19th century as a convenient covering for hot environments.
 
Now they are fashion statements showing off the wearer’s inclinations or interests. Now you would have thought they would all be the same to use. But not so. Some are too short or too long or have stupid messages on them or are not comfortable to wear. Others are just right and are worn again and again and just suit you.
 
It is the same in transactions and indeed in jobs. In some deals the chemistry works and even in difficult discussions allows the two sides to keep communicating and getting on with each other. In others everybody rubs everybody else up the wrong way and even if you ever get to sign the deal you just know fulfilment and delivery is going to be fraught with problems.
 
It’s actually quite an interesting topic. This Harvard Law School blog on Six Guidelines for “Getting to Yes”  argues that bargainers can and should look for negotiation strategies that can help both sides get more of what they want. By listening closely to each other, treating each other fairly, and jointly exploring options to increase value, negotiators can find ways of getting to yes that reduce the need to rely on hard-bargaining tactics and unnecessary concessions.
 
In order to have any chance of achieving these sorts of results the negotiators need to establish some form of comfortable rapport between both sides. This Forbes article suggests some ways of doing this (including smiling from time to time) concluding that Smiling, giving it up, taking a long view, stepping back, and going for the win-win — these are simple techniquesactually work.
 
I also like this blog which states Experienced negotiators know the importance of building a personal relationship before going into business negotiations. A negotiation involves two parties trying to come to a deal when both sides may want different things. An overly heated atmosphere and anger can unravel the most carefully planned deal. You can avoid many problems when you establish a personal relationship with the people who will be on the other side of the negotiating table.
 
It is pretty much the same in terms of jobs. I remember when I was a partner in a law firm being told that “the right lawyer in the wrong firm” is a disaster no matter how good the lawyer or the firm is. As Steve Jobs said “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”  You just can’t do that if you don’t fit in and feel comfortable. It means you end up with the wrong attitude and as Thomas Jefferson commented “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
 
And coming back to T-shirts Giorgio Armani sums it up nicely when he says “I’ve always thought of the T-shirt as the Alpha and Omega of the fashion alphabet”!

I remember working with one of the best lead negotiators I have encountered in my working life (he planned carefully and as a result executed complex contract negotiations very effectively) who had a pretty awful commute to work from Hertfordshire to Swindon in Wiltshire. It’s an hour and a half at the best of times and often much longer. He told me that his secret was just to take it easily, drive calmly and within the speed limit and above all avoid hurrying and just accept the traffic as a necessary daily chore. As he said the drivers who stayed out in the fast lane breaking the speed limit and flashing their headlights at slower drivers who got in their way only arrived a few minutes before he did anyway.
 
As I drove to and from work this week I tried to emulate my mentor in this respect and I did find it made the journey easier and more relaxing. As I did so I couldn’t help but notice the different attitude of some drivers who were rushing, driving close behind the car in front and gesticulating rudely at anybody who got in their way. They displayed no courtesy or consideration for other road users – and I am absolutely sure it did them do good either health wise or in terms of how they behaved when they got to work, or worse still returned home.
 
It is actually the same in a negotiation. There is no point in rushing in like a bull in a china shop and trying to take the discussions by the horns and force the pace. It just antagonises everybody, and not only in the opposition – your team won’t thank you especially if it is unplanned and driven by stress and not thought through.
There are of course times to push on in a negotiation to put the pressure on the other side but in most situations as this article on key negotiating tactics comments Take your time. Generally, you will not achieve the best outcome quickly. Although there are exceptions to this rule, you are usually better off negotiating slowly and with perseverance.
 
Of course, everybody sets time limits and deadlines for finishing a deal and some are real (like meeting a financial year end) but some are artificial and just set by somebody on one of the teams, or even a more remote stakeholder on one side or the other. I like the comment in this article on negotiation All too often in a negotiation, the other side has informed you that the deadline is a “hard stop”. This is interesting information, but I wouldn’t give it too much weight. The beauty of any negotiation is that just about everything is negotiable, and this includes the deadline. If the other side believes that they can reach a deal with you, they’ll be willing to bend on the deadline so don’t get too worried about it.
 
Timing can of course be critical in any negotiation. This piece on “The Art of Timing in a Negotiation” interestingly compares timing in a contract negotiation to great works of art As in art, timing can greatly impact the results of a negotiation and discusses how to manage and make use of time as the deal progresses.
 
There are also cultural differences as to the appreciation of and use of time, as anybody who has been involved in a negotiation with French and US parties will be able to attest. This short blog from Harvard Law School The Right Time to Negotiateidentifies the differences between a Western and a Middle Eastern approach to time For centuries, the West has operated on “clock time,” mechanically measuring out minutes and hours. By contrast, “event time”—how long it takes to get from one place to another or to complete a task—is traditionally more important in Middle Eastern cultures.
 
And to put the subject into a more intellectual context Albert Einstein once said “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” 
 
Anyway driving and negotiating should above all be fun and enjoyable and not a daily chore driven too much by time pressures, especially if they are artificial. As Simon and Garfunkel cheerfully sing:
 
They call me Baby Driver
And once upon a pair of wheels
I hit the road and I'm gone
What's my number
I wonder how your engines feel