In 1979, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware was heading to Moscow when the Senate leadership asked him to meet with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and negotiate an amendment to the SALT II arms-control treaty. Biden was told the Senate would not ratify the treaty...
A successful businesswoman once asked me to negotiate for her in buying out her partner’s interest in a piece of property. The negotiation, as sometimes occurs in partnership disputes gone bad, was ugly. Unfortunately, their relationship was poor. In fact, at one...
You know the type: super-competitive, hard-nosed risk-takers always out to “win.” You also know the opposite type: conflict avoiders. They dislike any conflict, especially the interpersonal kind. And they value peace and quiet above most everything. How we naturally...
Remember the classic television show “Columbo?” In it, Detective Frank Columbo was a bumbling detective who investigated high-profile murders. Huge egos surrounded him. Often, wealthy businessmen or politicians would be under suspicion, and eager prosecutors would...
“He just wanted me to get the deal done. “It’s time to stop the back and forth,” he said. “Just sign the deal.” “Patience,” I told him. “We’ve got strong leverage here, a very good alternative, and I believe we can save a significant sum of money with one more move...
I once sold an ordinary $20 bill to a lawyer in New York City for $83. How? By getting his ego involved. Here’s what happened: I announced in a seminar for about 100 New York lawyers that “I’m going to auction this $20 bill off to the highest bidder. “You are free to...
“She was angry and vindictive,” he told me. Her husband had betrayed her love and trust by having an affair. Now it was payback time – and she wanted a chunk of his flesh, which she figured meant 75% of their joint assets in their divorce. Unfortunately for her, the...
“He was demanding, unorganized and he didn’t know what he really wanted. And he took a shotgun approach to the issues, all of which needed to be resolved immediately. It lasted six months, and it was incredibly frustrating.” This comment by a client sums up a...
William Shatner in his Priceline commercials portrays a caricature of the aggressive, adversarial, competitive and slightly sleazy negotiator who wheels and deals to get you the best prices. And he gets them – in the commercials. But do these characteristics in...
