Although I have taken many many hours of training about negotiation, none of them has really involved what we witnessed during the Presidential election: extreme negotiations. In essence, both Mrs. Clinton and president-elect Trump were engaging in extreme negotiations with the American public in the hopes of becoming the 45th [Read More]
In connection with another blog post, I downloaded an internet version of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War translated by the Sonshi Group. In reading through it, I could not help but notice that many of its points relating to “war”, apply with equal force to negotiation, mediation and resolving [Read More]
Recently, I came across a report from the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation entitled “Salary Negotiations”. (HLS_PON_FR_SalaryNeg_V03_031416_wf ) While it focuses on negotiating the best salary possible, some of its points are equally applicable to negotiations in general. In one of the articles, the authors make three important points: “(1) [Read More]
On Saturday, March 19, 2016, the Southern California Mediation Association held a Town Hall on two topics: mediator certification and mediation confidentiality. It is the latter that I wish to discuss. The Supreme Court of California has repeatedly held that mediation confidentiality as set out in California Evidence Code Sections [Read More]
As a mediator, I have often had a party tell me that she will not settle on the terms proffered because, “It is all about principle!” I take this with a grain or two of salt because I have learned that if the other party becomes sufficiently generous in the [Read More]
In last week’s blog, I mentioned one paradox (competition and cooperation) discussed by Bernard Mayer in his book, The Conflict Paradox (ABA and Jossey-Bass, 2015). A second one is avoidance and engagement. Like the first paradox, on superficial glance, avoidance and engagement appear to be polar opposites. But, upon deeper [Read More]
In any negotiation training class, the concepts of “distributive “bargaining and “integrative” bargaining are invariably discussed. The former is viewed as a form of “competitive” bargaining in which for every gain that one party makes, the other party loses. It is a “zero sum” game in which a “fixed” pie [Read More]
Are you superstitious? Do you wear a “lucky” piece of clothing when you need the “gods” to be with you or have a “lucky” charm that you use or hold dear when you hope and pray that a certain event turns out as you want it to? If so, you [Read More]
