Dealing with impossible crises

I like this article on Dealing with impossible crises. The author's summary:

• Calm down, smile and remain polite to maintain any chance of success
  
• Become a human being rather than a faceless number
  
• Be persistent to grind away the brick wall
  
• Be prepared to lose to expand your freedom of thought and action
  
• Be clear about your objective so you can be flexible about how to achieve it
  
• Find who can, since often the first person you speak to cannot help
  
• Take an active part in making things happen more efficiently
  
• Make the other person feel good about helping you so that they are more likely to help you
  
• Don’t relax this stance until it’s over, it’s easy to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.