My wife recently saved us significant money on new furnishings for our family room. In shopping around, she found surprisingly large price differences for identical products. Similarly, a training program attendee recently told me he received three very different bids...
You show up and you’re outnumbered three to one. In addition to its regional vice president, the other side includes a technical expert and an administrative assistant whose sole purpose is to take notes. What just happened? If you engage, you will be starting...
“I really don’t connect very well with my colleague. We just don’t have much in common. But we have to work together to successfully complete this project. What should I do?” Many of us have been in this situation. And it’s not ideal. But unless you’re the CEO, you...
My friend said, “This NBA strike is ridiculous. The players are already making tons. Why don’t they just quit whining and play?” I can’t say I disagreed. Only one problem. The NBA players never struck. Instead, the owners created and publicly defined the issues in...
The negotiation lasted almost 20 years. The buyer had a clear goal: ownership. But in 1968, when the negotiation started, he admitted he didn’t have “two nickels” in his pocket. In 1987, he had more, but not nearly enough. The cost? $44.5 million. The sale item? The...
Thousands of fans sat on pins and needles as negotiators met late into the night trying to avert the ninth work stoppage in baseball history. And they succeeded. “Who succeeded?” you ask. The owners? The players? Neither? Or both? In my opinion, there were only two...
The deadline to complete a new deal is Sept. 15. That’s when the National Hockey League’s Collective Bargaining Agreement expires. It’s also when, absent a deal, the NHL appears willing to institute a season-threatening lockout of its players. The...
Few could have predicted the Green Bay Packers would lose on a bungled call by an NFL replacement official. And few could have predicted the fans’, players’, and coaches’ increasing uproar due to consistently inconsistent calls from those replacement officials. In...
I recently sat on a plane next to former NBA All Star player, head coach and long-time TV analyst Doug Collins, who has spent over 40 years negotiating with almost everyone in the NBA world. Given his unique perspective and excellent reputation, I asked him to share...
