Learning how to negotiate
Life is negotiation. We negotiate when to go to the cinema, which movie to watch, we negotiate where to go on holiday with our partner, what to cook for dinner, when to start a job...
The year started with a 2-week intensive workshop on negotiation and conflict resolution. I tend to have intellectual crushes with professors, which again I did. Professor Mandell is probably the best professor I've ever had. The level of caring for his students is unmatchable, his excellent organization and interesting, well-picked materials all seasoned with the darkest sense of humor in Cambridgean territory made this seminar a once in a lifetime opportunity. Last semester I had another crush on Linda Bilmes. But Linda deserves a posting by herself.
In the workshop I suffered many and very different identity transformations. I represented the Unions and fought for a salary increase, better job incentives and more worker's involvement in productivity decisions. I was an NGO in the Middle East surrounded by American companies willing to bribe me, Russian water-pipes builders giving me envelopes. I mediated in a racial discrimination case in which a Haitian worker claims his boss is a racist. I played Hamas in a table with Palestinians, Israelis and Jewish Settlers. To impersonify a terrorist band at the negotiation table is not an easy job. Negotiate in the name of God can quickly lead to failure.
I believe I am a better negotiator now. That does not mean that I am going to smash anybody trying to negotiate with me. Negotiation is not only about winning, for those not really into this area, it is about creating value, making the pie bigger, looking for innovative solutions, expanding options...and then dividing!
Negotiations start outside of the negotiation table. For those interested in this, read the book on 3-D Negotiations. 3 dimensions:
The First Dimension: Tactics
The Second Dimension: Deal Design
The Third Dimension: Setup
I know, I know...this sounds kind of artificial. But negotiation is a skill to learn through practice. The skyrocketing Harvard fees help develop those skills. Viva Mandell.
The year started with a 2-week intensive workshop on negotiation and conflict resolution. I tend to have intellectual crushes with professors, which again I did. Professor Mandell is probably the best professor I've ever had. The level of caring for his students is unmatchable, his excellent organization and interesting, well-picked materials all seasoned with the darkest sense of humor in Cambridgean territory made this seminar a once in a lifetime opportunity. Last semester I had another crush on Linda Bilmes. But Linda deserves a posting by herself.
In the workshop I suffered many and very different identity transformations. I represented the Unions and fought for a salary increase, better job incentives and more worker's involvement in productivity decisions. I was an NGO in the Middle East surrounded by American companies willing to bribe me, Russian water-pipes builders giving me envelopes. I mediated in a racial discrimination case in which a Haitian worker claims his boss is a racist. I played Hamas in a table with Palestinians, Israelis and Jewish Settlers. To impersonify a terrorist band at the negotiation table is not an easy job. Negotiate in the name of God can quickly lead to failure.
I believe I am a better negotiator now. That does not mean that I am going to smash anybody trying to negotiate with me. Negotiation is not only about winning, for those not really into this area, it is about creating value, making the pie bigger, looking for innovative solutions, expanding options...and then dividing!
Negotiations start outside of the negotiation table. For those interested in this, read the book on 3-D Negotiations. 3 dimensions:
The First Dimension: Tactics
The Second Dimension: Deal Design
The Third Dimension: Setup
I know, I know...this sounds kind of artificial. But negotiation is a skill to learn through practice. The skyrocketing Harvard fees help develop those skills. Viva Mandell.
Comments
:)
you said it well.. albanians are sometimes too critical with themselves.