What You Can Learn from Putin’s Negotiation Style

How Europe's toughest negotiator is teaching lessons on how to deal effectively with hard bargainers at the negotiation table

By — on / Negotiation Skills

In January 2015 the Negotiation Briefings newsletter featured an article, “Dealing with difficult people – even when you don’t want to,” discussing the impasse NATO leaders had reached with Russian President Vladimir Putin with regards to his unilateral actions in the Crimea. Aside from exhibiting obstinacy in the face of a unified European front, Putin also proffered a unilateral solution to the Ukraine crisis using a seven point memo he had written on a napkin prior to the summit, a seven point memo which he then failed to implement in any meaningful way.

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Negotiations are rarely ideal scenarios and thus much of negotiation research focuses on discovering both the ideal negotiator and equipping her with the ability to know when and how to negotiate when it is strategically advantageous for her. While research and preparation can focus on the individual negotiator, it often fails to prepare negotiators for the kinds of obstinate hard bargainers they will encounter in everyday life.

Choosing not to negotiate is rarely an option, and, indeed, not an option that students of integrative negotiations typically want to explore but recognizing a difficult negotiator and his tactics for what they are will often lead to agreement even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Claim your FREE copy: Negotiation Skills

Build powerful negotiation skills and become a better dealmaker and leader. Download our FREE special report, Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.


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