Negotiation Columns & Blogs

Here are five psychological tendencies to keep in mind when tactically developing and/or negotiating an agenda (what issues to address and in what order): 1.  Listeners remember the beginning and end of a presentation more than the middle. 2.  Repetition of a message...

In a recent CBSSports.com article, Mike Freeman reported the meetings between NFL owners and players have changed to a polite environment where “jokes are exchanged... Handshakes are commonplace. So are smiles and chit chat;” much different from the previous...

A study by Wharton professors Alison Wood Brooks and Maurice Schweitzer found anxious negotiators made initial offers that were 7.5% lower on average than those from non-anxious participants.  From this, the authors conclude negotiators might be able to improve their...

Walgreens had been negotiating a new prescription pricing deal with Express Scripts, Inc. but recently announced the negotiation had failed and it would be ending its relationship with Express Scripts at year end.  Interestingly, Walgreens participated in a similar...

As a manager, how can you get your front-line negotiators to change their behavior from instinctive to strategic based on the experts’ proven negotiation research? Here are a couple of tips: 1. Take baby steps. Don’t ask your negotiators to do everything the research...

NBA Commissioner Daniel Stern, discussing the on-going negotiation between the NBA owners and players’ association, recently pointed out that, “The NFL, which is usually profitable as opposed to the NBA, which isn’t, got [a] double-digit [revenue] reduction from their...

New York Times science columnist John Tierney recently wrote: The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts, usually in either of two very different ways. One shortcut is to become...

What should you do if your counterpart asks you a tough question about strategically important information you don’t want to share, like what’s your bottom line or authority?  I would never recommend lying – it’s morally wrong and you will be far less effective if you...

The Street reported today that ConAgra told Ralcorp it would “walk away from its $5.2 billion takeover bid” if Ralcorp doesn’t agree to begin negotiating by September 19th. The threat of a walkout is a tactic usually used for one or more of the following reasons: 1)...

A Huffington Post Business article about contract talks between the United Auto Workers and Chrysler and Ford mentioned that the union had already reached a deal with General Motors which would serve as “a template for the other two companies.” This is a great example...

The NBA owners and players are at impasse in their current collective bargaining negotiation.  The last formal proposals had the players seeking 53 percent of NBA revenues with the owners offering 47 percent.  It was reported today that Commissioner David Stern...

In a New York Times post about the success of recent high-profile entrepreneurs at retaining equity in their companies, Steven Davidoff concludes “[t]hese entrepreneurs appear more savvy than earlier Internet moguls, but their success owes thanks in large part to an...

In a recent Business Insider article, the author summarizes a recent Gartner talk as follows: The four big software vendors - Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and SAP - have hidden motives that customers need to understand, otherwise they might be pushed into buying products...