Improve Your Negotiations With The 5 Golden Rules.   LEARN THEM

To Strike or Not?

About 25,000 grocery store employees have threatened to strike against two supermarkets in Arizona if a negotiated agreement isn’t reached by Friday. Several news stories have appeared about workers protesting against their union’s plan. How might this...

The Importance of Identifying Fundamental Interests

As President Obama continues his first presidential trip to Asia, much attention has been focused on his negotiation approach and whether he has achieved noteworthy results. Obviously, a whole range of difficult, complex and long-term issues are being addressed,...

NBA Referees Negotiation Lesson

The on-going negotiation between the NBA and their locked-out referees provides a very useful negotiation lesson to anyone who has a boss, board or a constituency. First, to summarize the negotiation’s current status, a deal had been tentatively struck last...

The Big Schmooze and the Liking Principle

An important part of every negotiation is identifying what information you need from your counterpart and then getting it. Effective information gathering will not occur unless you create the appropriate atmosphere. One information gathering technique I recommend is...

Don’t Wait to Renegotiate

A recent article in The New York Times suggests that ‘with the recession continuing in full force,” you should “(c)losely analyze every contract you have and look for places where you think you can get a cost reduction. Then ask for better terms.”...

Lessons Abound in Fiat/Chrysler Negotiation

As the deadline approaches for Fiat and Chrysler to reach a merger agreement, several classic negotiation tactics are in full display. The U.S. Government’s imposition of an end-of-the-month deadline adds both a sense of urgency and scarcity to the negotiation...

Formula One and Improving Your Plan B

The future of the Formula One racing series is uncertain after negotiations between the FIA, the sport’s governing body, and FOTA, the racing teams’ association, broke down over the FIA’s plan to impose a budget cap for next season. Last Friday,...

Do the Standards Dance

In many sophisticated negotiations, each party will find independent standards like market value, precedent, expert opinions, etc., that favor their side and will use their most favorable standards to independently justify the “fairness” of their...