Negotiation Columns & Blogs

In August 2000, former White House OMB Director Jack Lew told me “(t)he most critical thing in a negotiation is to get inside your opponent’s head and figure out what he really wants.” In a talk today assessing the Vietnam war, former Secretary of State Henry...

In 1938, psychologist Gregory Razran found that his subjects developed a more favorable view of the people and things they experienced while they were eating – a result Razran coined as the “luncheon technique.” So the next time you have an important negotiation,...

Most of us have a strong desire to appear consistent. Consistency is valued in our society and is associated with other positive traits like honesty, stability and intelligence. Similarly, most of us will go to great lengths to fulfill our commitments....

Here is an example of counterparts in a negotiation beginning the “standards dance” – when the parties identify the most favorable independent standards justifying their position and then negotiate over which is the most fair and reasonable. Community Health Systems...

Derek Jeter recently signed a three-year contract worth up to $65 million to continue playing baseball for the New York Yankees.  At the official announcement, Jeter expressed anger that the Yankees had asked him to “go shop” himself to other teams even though Jeter...

As I finish up my holiday cards, I’m reminded of a story from Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: Science and Practice, about a university professor who sent holiday cards to a group of strangers to see what, if any, response he would get.  Amazingly, cards “came...

NBA player Jared Dudley recently tweeted, "I need all NBA players to save there (sic) money.  Be prepared to live without a check for at least a year.  This is serious.”  Jared is referring to the possibility that the players may be locked out by the owners next...

In Marquette University law professor Andrea Kupfer Schneider's 2002 study evaluating lawyers' negotiation styles, the most effective negotiators were described by their peers as (among other things): 1.  Ethical 2.  Experienced 3.  Personable 4.  Rational 5. ...

I’m a naturally curious person. When I meet new people I like to find out what they do, where they’re from, what they like and what makes them tick. This trait helps in my negotiations. Honest rapport building is important because it helps build trust and facilitates...

A recent Thunderbird School of Global Management study evaluating whether Negotiation Planning and Management (NPM) software helps negotiators improve their results reached the following conclusions: 1. Negotiators using NPM software improved their results by as much...

When should you put things in writing during the offer-concession stage of a negotiation? First, understand the impact of something in writing – it appears more definite and inflexible than equivalent spoken words and provides you with more credibility and legitimacy....

An interesting negotiation is taking place regarding the City of Glendale, Arizona’s attempt to keep the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team in Arizona.  The City had been negotiating a deal to help potential owner Matthew Hulsizer purchase the team from the National Hockey...

In a negotiation with one big issue and numerous smaller ones, which should you tackle first?  Consider the contrast principle (extensively addressed in Robert Cialdini's classic book Influence: Science and Practice), which holds that if a second item is fairly...