Practical Lessons from Great Negotiators

Faculty: James K. Sebenius

In conflicts and negotiations, emotions are inevitable. Whether you’re hammering out a labor contract, purchasing a new home, negotiating a multibillion-dollar acquisition, or mediating peace with warring parties, emotions play a powerful role.

How did Bruce Wasserstein, former chairman and CEO of Lazard and one of the most successful dealmakers of all time, negotiate more than a thousand transactions worth hundreds of billions of dollars?

How did artists Christo and Jean-Claude overcome the objections of four mayors, as well as numerous boards and New York City residents, to pull off one of the greatest, most controversial public art installations of all time throughout Central Park?

How did Tommy Koh, Singapore’s ambassador to the United States and United Nations, lead one of the most contentious global environmental negotiations to a successful conclusion as well as negotiate a major trade deal with the United States—that the U.S. did not want to even discuss?

Since 2001, the Program on Negotiation has bestowed the “Great Negotiator Award” on individuals who have successfully negotiated against great odds to accomplish worthy goals. In this fascinating one-day session, you’ll have the rare opportunity to explore how these remarkable negotiators overcame their most formidable challenges—and how to apply these lessons in your own negotiations.

Using the 3D framework as a lens, you will examine the setup, deal design, and tactics used by a number of renowned negotiators. Exploring in depth a select subset of Harvard’s Great Negotiators, you will draw on the experiences of George Mitchell, former majority leader of the U.S. Senate; Charlene Barshefsky, former special trade representative; Lakhdar Brahimi, former special representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan; Richard Holbrooke, former ambassador; Stuart Eizenstat, former deputy secretary of the treasury; and Sadako Ogata, former U.N. high commissioner for refugees.

Featuring an engaging stop-action format, video footage, and gripping real-world stories, this session, led by Jim Sebenius, will prompt you to examine your own approaches to negotiation. By comparing and contrasting the strategies used by great negotiators, you will derive practical lessons and proven concepts that can be applied to your own personal negotiation challenges. In this session, you will be:

• Learning to diagnose barriers and craft strategies for overcoming them
• Examining away-from-the-table moves for optimally setting up your at-the-table moves
• Gleaning remarkable lessons about creative deal design Acquiring persuasive and problem-solving tactics
• Acquiring persuasive and problem-solving tactics