“How should my wife deal with bullies,” this seminar attendee asked me. She works for a large software company, he said, and helps implement their systems at customers’ offices. And their customers regularly try to bully her into providing a lot more services and...
Newt Gingrich has repeatedly called Mitt Romney a liar. And Romney has incessantly focused on Gingrich’s personal ethics and effectively accused Gingrich of being a sore loser. And remember the 2008 primary battle between President Barack Obama and now Secretary of...
“I can’t believe they want to negotiate every single point,” my client said. “It makes no sense. These are standard terms, and many of their changes represent no functional difference.” What can you do when facing someone who wants to negotiate everything – even...
I have been blessed over the years with many negotiation counterparts who have exhibited tremendous skills. While some sat across the table as adversaries, some at the table as potential partners, and some behind the table working through agents, the best brought to...
It’s been a tough month. I lost a close friend to a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. My 85-year-old dad went in for emergency surgery (which was successful). And I just saw a cousin who last year lost his 34-year-old son (my cousin, too, obviously) in a tragic...
At the end of the day, I was escorted into his corner office. He was the managing partner of the law firm, and he sat behind a large desk, in the power position. It was my last interview. If it went well, I hoped to receive a job offer. So began our negotiation. Many...
We arrived at the naval air station about a week before President Clinton was due to visit. Our job? On behalf of The White House, work with the base commander and the other military personnel to ensure Clinton achieved his objectives during his stay. Our first...
Wouldn’t it be great if you could accurately assess whether your counterpart was lying when they said “I have an offer from XYZ Co. that is 10 percent greater than yours, so you will have to put more on the table if you want this deal?” It sure would be nice to...
“This negotiation is a marathon. It’s going to take a long time to achieve our goal, and it will be tough. Some of our steps might even be painful. But we must be persistent and focus on what we want to achieve long-term.” When was the last time you...
We were sitting on a Boeing 767 at Sky Harbor International Airport around 4 p.m., waiting for a United Airlines flight to leave for Chicago, when a flight attendant told us our weather-delayed 2:31 p.m. flight would experience even more delay because of a scheduling...
I recently met Richard McWilliam, the long-time Chairman of Upper Deck, the worldwide sports and entertainment company that revolutionized the sports trading card business. Since McWilliam constantly negotiates with sports agents and icons such as Michael Jordan and...
In 1955, Sony’s leader, Akio Morita, turned down an order for 100,000 of its $29.95 transistor radios. This deal was worth several times Sony’s working capital at the time and would have been its biggest deal ever. Morita called his turn-down the “best decision” he...
