The absence of information is... information

I was thinking back to a cruise Carol & I took to Alaska with CyberStar friends.

My good friend Alan Mah, a superb Vancouver BC Realtor, organized the trip.

To thank him, all the CyberStars on the cruise chipped in to him a new iPod Photo.

He asked "How did you know I didn't have one"

And I answered. "Because if you did have one, you would have told me"

I've noticed lately that a large part of our skill in negotiating with clients is being able to incorporate the absence of information into our interpretation of how the negotiations go.

In a recent performance, Josh Kornbluth talked about the "Presence of Absence".

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle might have referred to the curious incident when the dog didn't bark.

In every case, the lack of a response is a response.

I'm not usually this profound.