BE 590: Are You On Equal Grounds?

This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 590. Are you on equal grounds? Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.

For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Aubrey, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.

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Go to allairsenglish.com slash fluencyscore. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. Hello, Lindsay. How are you today? I'm doing pretty well, Aubrey.

Glad to be recording with you. How are you? How's it going? I'm great. I'm excited about this episode. And I'm curious, Lindsay, have you seen the show Hacks on HBO?

I have not even heard of that show. I feel like you know about all these shows that I just don't even know about. I'm Yes, you need to check it out. I love it.

It's excellent writing. But on this show, the receptionist is the CEO's daughter. And she's so terrible at her job. But everyone just has to put up with her and be kind to her because they're not on equal grounds, right?

She could get any of them fired. Is it funny? It is funny. It's a comedy. Yes. Okay, cool. Yeah, I can see that being pretty funny. Yeah, but it's funny because I watched this after Heli in our community had asked an open conversation club about a German idiom.

That means to be at eye level, meaning like being equal in a negotiation. He was asking, you know, what's the equivalent in English? So I'm going to try my German. This is what it is.

The German idiom is auf Augenhöhe. I think I pronounced it correctly. Good job. Good German. It's interesting because we say this a little bit differently in English.

We do. Yes. So sometimes the same concept might exist in another, let's say, another language. German is adjacent. English comes from German. It's a Germanic language, right?

But it's not exactly the same concept. words that are being translated. So that's the challenge there. Yeah. And this is especially tricky when it does have a meaning.

When we say you're at eye level with someone, that means you're at the same height. You would be like, if you and I are at eye level, that means literally our eyes are at the same level or the same height. It doesn't mean that idiomatically, but we do have other words we use for this same meaning.

Interesting. Okay. This is great. So we're going to get into this good topic today of how to essentially convey what, Aubrey? What are we trying to say?

Yeah, to convey this idiomatic meaning of treating someone as an equal to interact with mutual respect or to be able to negotiate from the same level. No one is inferior, right? We are on equal grounds is how we say that in English. And we have a few other ways that we say it as well.

Yeah. So just like you're saying on the show with Hax, she's above, even though she does a terrible job, she's above everyone else in a way because she has that access to the boss. Exactly. And there is sort of this hierarchy within companies often that maybe the CEO is a buggy would imagine as opposed to like the receptionist.

But when the receptionist is the founder or the owner, the company owner's daughter, that really changes how the power balance would work. Interesting. Okay. And then it becomes really interesting.

So I'll have to watch that show. Guys, go ahead and hit the follow button so you don't miss a single episode of our show. We've come out with this show three days a week. So don't miss it.

So yeah, so like we said, we can't translate directly from our native language. Even if we think we have the same expression, it's probably not going to work. Yeah, exactly. We just don't use them word for word, especially with idiomatic language.

They're going to be, you know, it's always fun for me to find out from those who speak other languages that will have an idiom. How is that said in your language? It's always slightly different wording. Yeah, really interesting.

So the first phrase that we need to know is on equal grounds, right? Yeah. So let's go a little deeper into this one, Aubrey. Yeah. That's a fair situation where all parties have the same opportunities or power or conditions.

So in a negotiation, if you're on equal grounds, no one has the advantage over someone else. Yeah. So for example, we want all candidates to compete on equal grounds during the hiring process. Yeah.

And that's often the goal, right? We don't want someone to have an advantage they shouldn't. But it's interesting, often your experience or your skills will make it so that you're no longer on equal grounds with another candidate. Yes.

Or the new policy ensures that small businesses can operate on equal grounds with larger corporations. Yeah, I mean, especially with tariffs that have been unleashed this year, small businesses cannot negotiate on a large scale with companies to get the tariffs, like to reduce the damage of the tariffs, right? But large companies can. So it becomes an environment where small business can't compete against large corporations, which is not what we want.

Exactly. Right. And it's often the case with policies, with things that governments are doing. That is what puts companies where they are no longer on equal grounds.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then governments can sometimes try to do things like we have a small business Saturday, right? Sometime in December where they encourage you to shop at a small business.

Right. But yeah, so. Yeah, tax breaks, first of all. But there's a lot of things that can be done to try and put companies on equal ground so that everyone has an equal playing field in the market.

But yeah, it's tricky. Tricky. Okay. And then on equal footing. So very similar, but pay attention to the vocab here, guys. Or have equal footing too.

Have is sometimes used here. Exactly, right? So very similar, pretty interchangeable, right? To mean in the same position of power, having the same status or advantage.

So you might say after securing additional funding, the startup is now on equal footing with its competitors. So meaning they're at about the same level, same negotiating power. Yeah. Or the merger gives both companies equal footing in the global market.

So putting the companies at equal footings. Exactly. And then the other way we say this is a level playing field. I don't know if this comes from sports.

Probably. If the playing field, if it's uneven, then that could cause problems for someone, right? Or an even playing field, we'll also say. And this is the situation, a situation where everyone has the same opportunities.

No one has an unfair advantage. Regulations are meant to create a level playing field for all investors. Right. Or we aim to give all suppliers an even playing field during negotiations.

Yes. Yeah. And yeah, I think it probably does come from sports and a lot of, and this is what they do in professional sports. They try to make sure the grass is the same length on both sides.

And with tennis, I mean, you're doing the coin toss properly and there's so much attention that's paid to fairness. Yeah. Yes, right. We don't want anyone to have an unfair advantage in sports or in business with governments.

Often that is the motivation is how can we all be on an even playing field so it doesn't feel unfair to anyone. Exactly. Start your gratis proof period at shopify.com.

So don't confuse this. There could be a trap here, Aubrey. What is the trap, the trick? Yeah. So I had mentioned, this is interesting, in English, we'll say see eye to eye or be.

Be eye to eye means like to be the same height. But we also say see eye to eye. And that means to agree, right? If we say we see eye to eye on this, it means we agree about something.

So totally different, right, Aubrey? Not related to this concept of fairness. Yeah, that's what's tricky. Yeah. This idiom in German, right, we were saying you can't translate directly.

So but it's tricky. It's so fascinating how with a different verb, the words mean something else. So be eye to eye means to be the same height to be looking directly in someone's eyes. See eye to eye means to agree.

But in English, the way that we say to be on even playing field, equal grounds, to not have someone have an advantage is these three expressions, on equal grounds, unequal footing, or a level playing field. Okay. Good to know. Good to know.

Watch out for the tracks, the tracks, the tricks and traps. You combined tricks and traps. I know, getting tired at the end of the day here. All right.

So let's do a role play, Aubrey. Here, you are a sales director and I am an operations manager prepping for a contract negotiation. All right. Perfect.

I'll start us out. Before we meet with the supplier, I want to make sure we're on equal grounds. Agreed. Last time, they had access to more cost data than we did.

This time, we need full transparency so we have equal footing. Yes. I requested their updated production costs, so we'll have that before the meeting. Perfect.

If everyone understands the pricing structure, that will create a more level playing field. Perfect. It will go more smoothly if they don't think we're at a disadvantage.

negotiations can be very intense, right? Especially between companies, that kind of thing. So yeah, especially if you're not on equal grounds, right? If someone has an advantage, they're coming from more of a position of power, then that's going to be a tricky negotiation.

Absolutely. So we started by saying, you said, I want to make sure we're on equal grounds so that things are fair before we go into this negotiation. Yeah. Exactly.

And often it is about this knowledge, right? Here we're talking about in a previous experience, somebody had more knowledge than someone else and it made it so that we weren't on equal grounds because we didn't have this information the other side did. Yeah. Knowledge is power in negotiations for sure.

Right. And then you said, agreed, last time they had access to more cost data. This time we need full transparency so we have equal footing. So we're saying if we have all of the information they have, then we will have equal footing means no one will have an advantage over someone else.

Yes, exactly. And then finally, I said, if everyone understands the pricing structure, that will create a more level playing field. Okay. Yeah. And this is about the situation being equal for everyone.

If we have a level playing field, that means no one has an advantage. Yes, exactly. Going back to that sports reference a little bit. Guys, go and check out Business English 568.

What's your secret to success? Aubrey, where should we leave our listeners? I mean, I think fairness, I'm also going to say in American business culture, in American culture in general, fairness is really important. It's one of our deeply embedded values.

Like how do you feel when someone gyps you in line? So someone cuts in front of you in line. Yeah. Don't say gypsum. It's not a good word to say. And it doesn't even mean that.

But yeah, no, you're right. Exactly. I think especially in American business culture, this is probably the case around the world. But if you are dealing with people from the United States, fairness is very important, right?

We want to feel like we're on a level playing field. If something feels unfair, someone is being given an advantage they shouldn't, This is going to cause friction. It's going to cause feelings or, you know, and then we might be coming in emotionally, which could ruin a negotiation in the first place.

Yeah. So fairness is really deeply embedded in this culture and it might be in the culture that you're negotiating with. So keep that in mind. Right. So these are good phrases.

Well, good stuff today, Aubrey. You have a good rest of your day. All right. Awesome. See you guys next time. Take care. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.

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