As I’ve shared in the past, I’m a die-hard fan of The West Wing. So when HBO Max announced that the original cast was reuniting for “A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote,” I knew exactly what I would be doing on October 15th. And when I learned the cast would be recreating one of my favorite episodes — an episode which not only resonates with me as a mediator but which Aaron Sorkin has described as “an ode to voting” — I took the confluence of events as a sign that it was time to revise, update and republish the April 2016 edition of Resolution Strategies!
The main plot line of the episode — titled “Hartsfield’s Landing” — involves President Bartlet returning from a trip to India only to learn that a potential military crisis is brewing between China and Taiwan. With the help of his National Security Advisor, Nancy McNally, President Bartlet manages/mediates the diplomatic crisis, while he is simultaneously engaged in separate chess matches with Communications Director Toby Ziegler (in the Oval Office) and Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn (in Sam’s office), to whom he had given exquisite chess sets which he brought back from India to thank them for their work on the State of the Union.
The episode is called “Hartsfield’s Landing” because one of the other story lines involves the small fictional town of Hartsfield’s Landing, New Hampshire — based upon the real town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire — in which all of the eligible voters gather together at midnight to cast their ballots. The polls are officially closed once all of the registered voters have voted and the results are immediately tabulated and broadcast to the country. In Dixville Notch, the Republican candidate who received the most votes in every presidential primary between 1968 and 2012 went on to become the Republican candidate! Changing the name of the town, and the party affiliation of the voters, Aaron Sorkin wrote a poignant tribute to the most precious right we have as American citizens.
During his chess match with the President, Sam turns his attention to the situation in the China Sea and casually asks “how does it work,” referring to the President’s strategy. As the President leaves Sam’s office to return to his match with Toby, he turns back and tells Sam to “see the whole board.” After contemplating President Bartlet’s strategic response to the actions taken by China and Taiwan, Sam tells the President — upon the President’s return to Sam’s office — that he would like to take a stab at answering his own question, which he does correctly.
As in chess, it is not enough to “see the whole board” only as it exists at any particular moment. Rather, it is critical to “see the whole board” from the very inception of the negotiating process, noting how the “board” changes with every move because every move — and the context within which that move was made — provides invaluable information upon which you will necessarily rely to modify and adapt your own negotiating strategy as the negotiations ensue.
In an early scene in “Hartsfield’s Landing,” after receiving the advice of his military advisers, President Bartlet declares “that’s our next move.” National Security Advisor McNally then asks, “After that?” The President replies, matter of factly: “After our next move comes their next move.”
Like President Bartlet, the move you make after the other side’s next move is likely to be more effective when you “see the whole board.”
And if you haven’t done so yet, please be sure to vote!
As always, It would be my pleasure to assist you and your clients in the dispute resolution process. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of service.
Best regards,
Floyd J. Siegal