Lecturer of Urban Planning and Negotiation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Executive Director, MIT-Harvard Mexico Negotiation Program
The recipient of MIT’s first-ever interdisciplinary and interdepartmental Ph.D. in negotiation, communication, diplomacy, and leadership, Bruno Verdini has led research, talks, and executive courses on negotiation and conflict resolution in more than 20 countries. A frequent speaker at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, his popular courses were the foundation for creating MIT’s concentration in negotiation and leadership.
A Mexican and French national, Professor Verdini has been involved in negotiations with the International Energy Agency, International Atomic Nuclear Agency, International Renewable Energy Agency, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, World Economic Forum, and World Bank. The author of Winning Together: The Natural Resource Negotiation Playbook (MIT Press), he received Harvard Law School’s Howard Raiffa Award in 2015 for best doctoral student research paper in negotiation, mediation, decision-making, and dispute resolution.
Education
B.A., Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (Mexico City)
M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research interests
Cognitive insights, emotional skills, and management strategies in the areas of negotiation, mediation, conflict resolution, adaptive leadership, collaborative decision making, and political communication
Selected publications
- Winning Together: The Natural Resource Negotiation Playbook. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2017.
- Co-editor with Lawrence Susskind, Jessica Gordon, and Yasmin Zaerpoor. Environmental Problem-Solving. Anthem Press, 2017.
Thank you for sharing Professor Verdini’s impressive accomplishments in negotiation and leadership. His contributions to the field and the impact of his work globally are truly inspiring.
Hi Bruno – I wonder if you can help me. I’m looking for direction on a topic connected to EDR that you appear particularly qualified to address. My question is related to a negotiation dilemma that occurs primarily on public land. In this scenario, a local stakeholder group negotiates an agreement with a logging company to log the forest in a way that is not ideal for each party but is one they can at least live with. They’ve in a sense split the pie. The community and company are generally happy with the outcome and the process is touted as a model. So far so good. But, along comes another company that likes what they’ve heard and wants to negotiate their own deal. So the community is being asked, in a sense, to split the pie again. Since it’s a finite resource, there aren’t many opportunities to enlarge the pie. The stakeholder group is reluctant to negotiate. Other communities get wind of it and decide that negotiation is a slippery slope. My question is, have you run across any literature describing this phenomenon? I’ve looked at lots of published research for the specific dilemma of ‘along comes another party that wants to negotiate another pie splitting deal that results in a net smaller pie with each negotiation.’ Thanks for any help you can provide.
I’m a mediator in the environmental field and graduated from the Kennedy School in ’84. I took Roger Fisher’s negotiation course and Larry’s EDR course in ’85. Larry Bacow was teaching it that semester and had just published his book with Michael Wheeler. I completed a PhD at Michigan in 2008 – with Wondolleck and Yaffee as my advisors. Thank you so much for your help.
Hello, we have forwarded your comment to Bruno Verdini.