Sharks, Saints, and SamuraiThe article Sharks, Saints, and Samurai: The Power of Ethics in Negotiations was written by Mark Young, for the April 2008 edition of Negotiation Journal. The article discusses the power of ethics in negotiations. Mr. Young discusses three observations regarding the balance of power and ethics in politics and business. The first observation concerns Nelson Mandela and the South African government in 1986. The second and third observations concern two commercial contract negotiations carried out in the 1990s in the United States and Germany. Young explains the three approaches to negotiations: tactical, prudential and principled. He then illustrates these three approaches anecdotally by categorizing negotiators who use them as saints, sharks, and samurai. This article will discuss the negotiation approaches used by negotiators and how their worldview, understanding, desire for power, and ethics are what determine whether they are a saint, a shark, or a samurai. Based on the observations of the Samurai, Nelson Mandela, Hunt Wesson (HW) and the German Trust agency, as a Christian I believe that it is better to adhere to principled negotiations because ethics can be a major source of power. Mark Young uses three comparisons to describe people's negotiating styles; sharks, saints and samurai. A shark is a negotiator whose concerns are purely tactical and practices “gambling”. A shark uses ethics to play on its opponent's fears and values ​​and subdue them. Saints are defined as someone who will give up the real benefits of negotiation to remain trustworthy. They believe that their conduct is the ultimate basis for any judgment about the value of negotiations. Finally, Samurai are people who practice...... middle of paper ......mples the article provided as role models when I negotiate with other people in my professional and personal life. By analyzing the approaches used by various negotiators I was able to observe their ethical worldviews, their understanding of the balance of power and ethics in negotiations, and the respect these Samurai negotiators showed for their counterparts during the negotiation process. Virtue in the negotiation process can become a powerful tool on the part of those who choose to employ it. “All a person's ways seem pure to them, but their motives are weighed by the Lord” (Pr. 16:2). Works Cited Jankowski, R. Shapiro, M. (1998). The power of beauty. Hoboken: Wiley.NIV (2011). Study the Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.Purnell, M. (1994) Long Walk to Freedom. Boston: Little and Brown Co. Young, M. (1998). Sharks, saints and samurai. Cambridge: Harvard Press.