“How can we more effectively negotiate with these aggressive lawyers on the other side? They argue over every issue. I generally know how to deal with them, but is there a specific move or tactic you would recommend?” This question, posed by a potential client this...
We just returned from a family trip to Japan, and I couldn’t help but consider some of the culturally different negotiation approaches – and the lessons we can learn from them. Here are three. Of course, these are broad and general tendencies. And exceptions abound,...
We recently solicited bids to repaint our house from three residential painters/painting companies, all of whom came recommended by friends or family. We also requested bids for an upcoming home renovation. (Yes – our house needs some work!). Despite having gone...
Masayoshi Son had “earned a reputation as the Bill Gates of Japan” by making it big with the software distributor SoftBank. According to Sebastian Mallaby in The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future, while Son’s “childhood home was a squatter’s...
Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of the Ethernet computer-networking technology and founder of a tech company sold in 2010 to Hewlett-Packard for $2.7 billion, called this negotiation tactic of a potential venture capital investor the “Oh-by-the-Way Syndrome.” Here’s what...
“Does it help or hurt to be unpredictable in a negotiation,” I am often asked these days. Let me give you a great legal answer – it depends! What does it depend upon? 1. A future relationship with your counterpart Do you have, expect and/or want a future relationship...
Our son recently interviewed for internships this summer (he’s a Northwestern University junior double majoring in computer science and psychology). It got me thinking about one of the most consequential negotiations of our lives, our first real career opportunity....
Here is my annual list of lessons learned and links to the columns that more extensively address these strategies. Don’t forget to implement these in 2026! How you communicate and the tone of your voice – your pitch, inflection, pace, volume, emphasis and general...
Like millions of others, I have been amazed at the resources and power that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has brought to everyone in so many fields. And while some legitimately feel threatened by this ongoing revolutionary change (and which I partially address in my...
