Two Minute Drill: Restitution (#21)

Foreign.

Welcome back. We're talking about seeking forgiveness, and we're on the last step. And I refer to this particular step as restitution. You might call it penance. This is when you pay. A couple things to remember on paying. In my experience, the check you write today will be the smallest check you will ever write. When you're going to write one, okay? And you're going to meet lots of resistance to resolving these issues. But by and large, if you're the causative factor in these circumstances, you really want to get to this point as quickly as you can. The longer you wait, the longer the check is, the more complicated the story gets and the more people who are wounded, hurt, and victims have to wait for something that will help them resolve their problems. Okay? So when you think about this, I've actually developed techniques where we can settle things the first time we meet. Because the problem we face is in the legal environment, we want to have a lot of information before we make decisions. But in crisis, I found that basically it isn't that hard to make a decision. What's hard is to explain the decision to your peers and your cohort. You know, your cohort, your. The folks who really don't want to settle. Get these things done. But you'll be glad you did, and it resolves a lot of issues. Things don't go away until this step is taken and the earlier you take it. Remember that basically the key to settlement is to meet with the victims and ask a single question. What do you want? What will get your life back together? And work on that. You go any other direction, it's negotiation, and it's really a total waste of time because the key question is, what do they want? Ask the question, work in good faith, and get it done. You can do it. That's all. I'll see you next time.