When armed conflict breaks out, observers often quickly raise the prospect of a diplomatic solution. Yet many wars drag on for years, even as the possibility of peace negotiations seems to dim. As Russia’s war on Ukraine reaches the two-year mark, many U.S. and European governments are eager to try to mediate an end to … Read Prompting Peace Negotiations
Recent Posts
5 Tips for Improving Your Negotiation Skills
The prospect of boosting our negotiation skills can be so overwhelming that we often delay taking the necessary steps we can follow to improve, such as taking time to prepare thoroughly. The following five guidelines will help you break this daunting task into a series of manageable—and often essential—strategies. … Read 5 Tips for Improving Your Negotiation Skills
10 Negotiation Failures
Here’s a list of 10 negotiation failures drawn from recent negotiations in the news—including deals that were over before they started and those that proved disastrous after the ink had dried. These cautionary tales offer ample lessons to business negotiators. … Read 10 Negotiation Failures
Managing Difficult Employees, and Those Who Just Seem Difficult
Ask the many managers of a certain high-volume restaurant in the Midwest what their greatest work challenge is, and they’d most likely say something along the lines of, “managing difficult employees.” … Read More
How to Set Negotiation Goals as a Manager
To encourage the negotiators they supervise to do their best, managers routinely rely on performance benchmarks, the promise of bonuses, and other types of goals. … Read How to Set Negotiation Goals as a Manager
Servant Leadership and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge
Billionaire Warren Buffett is not particularly interested in making more money for himself. At 85 years old, he has amassed a staggering fortune, worth over $65 billion. Instead, what has consumed him for the last six years is how to give it all away, and how to convince other billionaires to do the same. … Read More
How to Win at Win-Win Negotiation
Win-win negotiation, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t require us to choose between collaborating and competing. Here’s how to get the best of both worlds. … Read How to Win at Win-Win Negotiation
How to Negotiate in Cross-Cultural Situations
Figuring out how to negotiate in cross-cultural situations can seem like a daunting endeavor, and for good reason. Negotiating across the cultural divide adds an entire dimension to any negotiation, introducing language barriers, differences in body language and dress, and alternative ways of expressing pleasure or displeasure with the elements of a deal. As a … Read How to Negotiate in Cross-Cultural Situations
When a Job Offer is “Nonnegotiable”
Question: I am in my final year of business school and starting to prepare for job interviews. I have heard many of the organizations that recruit on campus are not open to negotiating specific terms of employment. Rather, they offer everyone roughly the same deal terms. To what extent should I respect such conventions versus … Read When a Job Offer is “Nonnegotiable”
Union Strikes and Dispute Resolution Strategies
When a conflict looms, it can be tempting for each side to try to make unilateral decisions on key issues because of the belief that negotiations with the other side will be a dead end. This dispute resolution strategy may pay off in the short term, but it’s important to factor in the long-term costs … Read Union Strikes and Dispute Resolution Strategies
In Negotiation, How Much Do Personality and Other Individual Differences Matter?
Most negotiation advice centers on the mistakes all of us make. But individual differences in personality, intelligence, and outlook could also affect your talks. Imagine how you would approach negotiations with the following people: … Read More
Causes of Conflict: When Taboos Create Trouble
Among the many causes of conflict, taboo issues that arise in negotiation and other realms can be difficult to address. Here’s how to identify and broach these hot-button issues. … Read Causes of Conflict: When Taboos Create Trouble