This course is now at capacity.

Session Leader: James K. Sebenius

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 of 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 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:

• Learn to diagnose barriers and craft strategies for overcoming them
• Examine away-from-the-table moves for optimally setting up your at-the-table moves
• Glean remarkable lessons about creative deal design
• Acquire persuasive and problem-solving tactics

FACULTY
James K. Sebenius specializes in analyzing and advising on complex negotiations. At the Program on Negotiation, he is director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, co-chair of the Great Negotiator Award Committee, and co-founder/director of the Negotiation Roundtable. He also holds the Gordon Donaldson Professorship of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.