Whether you love or hate former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, almost everyone can agree that she masterfully wielded the reins of power to accomplish major public policy changes (Obamacare would likely have never passed without her). Of course, her negotiation skills more than anything allowed her to make such an impact.
And fortunately for those looking to improve their negotiation skills, Pelosi – considered by many as the most powerful woman in American political history – recently released a new book detailing her secrets to success, “The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House.”
She shares a ton of negotiation stories and lessons in the book. Here, in Part 1, are some negotiation lessons she shared in a book interview and podcast with New York Times’ columnist Ezra Klein. I added my own insights next to some of them. I will detail more of Pelosi’s lessons in Part 2 next week.
· “When you make a decision about your goal, you have to make every decision in favor of reaching that goal.”
ML: Setting negotiation goals and making strategic moves designed to accomplish them is a fundamental research-based negotiation strategy.
· “You have to have goals. You have to have a why. Come back to the why.”
ML: The “why” represents a parties’ interests and needs – crucial elements in all negotiations.
· “You have to know yourself. “
ML: Knowing yourself and your strengths and weaknesses will empower you in all negotiations.
· “They say, trust your gut. Well, what’s your gut unless you know what you’re talking about? You know the appetite of the voters. You have listened.”
ML: Listening and getting information will increase the likelihood that your negotiation “gut” decisions will be strategic and driven by interests, needs and knowledge.
· “You’re always observing and learning and respecting and listening to what you think the other side might do.”
· “I see everything as an opportunity, no matter what it is – an opportunity for change, an opportunity to grow, whatever it is. So when we did the Affordable Care Act [Obamacare], the press said, now you’re dead. I said: No, no. We are not passing up an opportunity of a generation that people have been trying to do, presidents have been trying to do for a hundred years.”
ML: A positive attitude and persistence, especially in light of the inevitable negotiation roadblocks, are quality traits in effective negotiators.
· Klein: “When people believe you’re going to act, it changes their strategy.” Pelosi: “It does. They want to negotiate for another day, and that’s always leverage, too. They have leverage, you have leverage, because they may want something another day.”
ML: Three lessons. One, a negotiator’s reputation as someone who “acts” and “goes for it” can have a cascading impact on a negotiation. Two, your moves will often depend on and be impacted by your counterpart’s moves. And three, current negotiations and leverage between parties with future relationships will almost always be impacted by their future negotiations.
· “It’s hard to negotiate with somebody who wants nothing. And so, it’s respect, it’s listening, it’s building off the information that people have.”
ML: Find out what your counterpart wants with respectful listening and understanding.
· “If you’re going to make a deal, you have to be true to your word. You have to be honest.”
Latz’s Lesson: We can all learn from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s negotiation strategies, especially ones related to goals, respect, knowledge, listening, positivity, persistence, honesty, the “why,” and the list goes on.
* Marty Latz is the founder of Latz Negotiation, a national negotiation training and consulting company that helps individuals and organizations achieve better results with best practices based on the experts’ research. He can be reached at 480.951.3222 or Marty@LatzNegotiation.com.