Negotiating

Lesson in diplomacy

September 13, 2010
John Street learned something about leadership one day in 1981, when he was a member of the Philadelphia City Council. When the council president barred his bill aimed at helping the city’s financially troubled school district, Street seized the stenotype machine, setting off a melee that made national news. He said he learned a lesson that day about diplomacy:

Ask 12 questions before negotiating

September 13, 2010
Master negotiator Herb Cohen gives us questions you want to have answered before going into any negotiation:

When you’re facing a tough negotiator

July 9, 2010
Suppose you’re about to face off with an “old school” negotiator whose reputation for hard bargaining precedes him. There are steps you can take to transform a potential zero-sum competition of wills into an interaction that is aligned toward problem solving—even when facing the hardest bargainer.

6 tips from a master negotiator

June 14, 2010

Allan Stark loves to haggle. In his world, everybody can make out better on every deal. He’s made a second career by offering his negotiating skills on the web. His pitch: He’ll do even better on the very best deal you can make and then split the savings. Stark offers these tips:

Leadership Tips: Vol. 610

May 17, 2010
Pull audience members’ attention away from their BlackBerrys by asking a lot of questions, says Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group … How did Apple sell more than $150 million worth of iPads on the product’s launch day? It spent 25 years earning the privilege of delivering personal and relevant messages to their customers, says blogger and author Seth Godin …

What’s your negotiating style?

February 12, 2010

We all have a personal approach to negotiation. Individual differences in how we prefer outcomes when interacting with others strongly affect how we approach negotiation, according to Carnegie Mellon University professor Laurie Weingart, who with other psychologists has pinpointed four basic negotiating personalities:

You’ll win every game of ‘chicken’

December 1, 2006
If you want to win a negotiation, your threats to walk away have to be credible; making empty threats will only turn your whole team into losers. Here are five ways to reinforce your credibility while demanding more:

When negotiating, take the right side

December 1, 2004
In high-stakes negotiations, sitting across the table from your opponents ends the signal that you are enemies, not collaborators who are looking for solutions that meet both your needs.