My wife sometimes reminds me to avoid shaking hands with people I meet if they exhibit signs of being sick, like sniffling or coughing. But this is tough for me, as it’s just an ingrained habit I’ve had for 40 years. It turns out that this habit can actually...
I met my wife over 20 years ago when one of my former law students introduced us. When I learned she grew up in Wisconsin, I immediately felt a connection. After all, I grew up in Minnesota and sensed a “Midwestern” thing going on. She felt it, too. This feeling was...
“The buyer paid 8x my client’s EBITDA [a revenue-related financial calculation often used to help evaluate a company’s market value]. He didn’t have to pay this, as he had extremely strong leverage because he was my client’s largest retail outlet and one without...
“Usury” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the lending of money at exorbitant interest rates” and can also be used “in a moral sense,” according to Wikipedia, as “condemning taking advantage of others’ misfortunes.” We as a society have even passed laws prohibiting...
Our AC unit recently went on the blink with the temperature in Scottsdale around 115. Yikes! We needed to get it fixed or replaced ASAP. Talk about weak leverage! Fortunately, we found an AC guy willing to come out within a day and fix it. I’ve never been happier to...
Here’s my annual list of lessons learned from my 2021 columns and a reminder to put these strategies into practice in 2022. You won’t get better results if you don’t implement them. Each also has a link to my column with more detail. Don’t scream at negotiation...
The language you use in making your offers and concessions and the signal it sends can have a strong impact on whether your offers or concessions will be accepted. Here are some general tips: Be specific and detailed Explain your rationale and tie your offer to...
With the ongoing debt-deal negotiation between President Obama and House Speaker Boehner providing us with an elucidating example of the offer-concession process (check out this handy chart quantifying both sides’ moves via the Washington Post), here are five tips to...
When it comes to negotiations, I’m often asked: “How much should we move in a negotiation after we open? And how much should we move later, and when and how? I usually respond with the following story. John had just filed for divorce and was representing himself in...
