If you are a professional, you have had some instruction or training in negotiation skills. What if I were to tell you that the training you received made you a weaker negotiator? What if I were to tell you that theories based on collaboration and Getting to Yes lead to weaker outcomes? What if I told you that stress can actually cause a breakthrough to better results? Negotiation is a basic human activity that arises out of wants, desires, needs, and disputes. You want something I have. I want to trade for something you have. You believe I wronged you, and you want damages. As organized collections of people, we negotiate terms of exchange. We do this commercially through negotiations and collectively as nations. When we can’t sort matters commercially, we litigate. When nations can’t resolve differences through negotiation, wars erupt. In The Seven Tensions of Negotiation, I explain how to simply say “maybe not” and leverage the seven tensions of negotiation to your advantage.
