Negotiations

Is Marriage the Ultimate Business Deal?

Photo by Paul Pastourmatzis on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

During the Covid days when the weekend entertainment was sourdough bread and a Zoom party, I was busy entering and exiting chat rooms on Clubhouse– the voice only discussion/hang out app. I remember listening to so many talks about marriage. There was one in particular led by a woman who was married for over a decade. She said she ran her marriage like a business where she and her husband were CEO and CFO. They made decisions as a team and sorted out problems systematically like a business undergoing an audit. With three children and a happy husband, it seemed like her approach was working.

Since then, I’ve thought a lot about that metaphor: marriage is a business. You can see how nicely that comparison works for the actual marriage part, but what about when you enter into the marriage? I think the pre-work that goes into a marriage is arguably even more like negotiating a business deal.