{"id":4691,"date":"2021-09-02T10:00:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T17:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/?p=4691"},"modified":"2021-08-20T14:40:03","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T21:40:03","slug":"can-you-negotiate-without-emotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/?p=4691","title":{"rendered":"Can you negotiate without emotion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Here\u2019s the problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Negotiating an agreement, especially one that involves personal gain, is tough for the person personally involved.\u00a0 There is too much to lose to be objective, to be willing to walk when terms go upside down.<\/p>\n

What if the negotiation is personally important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is my experience that you should have an expert negotiator with you or even in your place, whether from your board or an employee or outside professional such as an attorney \u2013 when the issue is personal.<\/p>\n

An example you might recognize<\/strong><\/p>\n

Think of buying a car, for example. If you are looking for your spouse or offspring, it is probable that they\u2019ve picked out the perfect car and are ready to take it off the dealer\u2019s hands.\u00a0 Assuming that you are the elected or self-assigned negotiator, the last thing you want is to have them in the room while you haggle over price.\u00a0 Advantage other side<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Using an impartial negotiator:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Negotiating on behalf of business associates too personally involved in a transaction: it\u2019s a role I\u2019ve played tens of times over the years. There are the several that were disengagements between partners threatening to sue each other for perceived wrongs.\u00a0 There\u2019s the sale of a company, where as a board member, I asked the CEO to name his asking price and then go home and wait the result.\u00a0\u00a0 There\u2019s the disengagement with an angry employee threating to sue the company.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the issues are just too emotional. <\/strong><\/p>\n

[Email readers, continue here…]\u00a0<\/em><\/span> All of the above issues are personal to a CEO, founder or entrepreneur.\u00a0 And all of them draw that person emotionally into making decisions that cannot easily be objective, or into finding solutions that are mutually acceptable without the torture of constant re-explanation of opposing positions.<\/p>\n

Some solutions to consider\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

A smart lawyer, they say, should never represent himself.\u00a0 And yet, lawyers are trained in the art of negotiation.\u00a0 You should be careful not to miss the point of that admonition.<\/p>\n

\"\"My oldest son learned to accompany me, but keep a deadpan look on his face as I negotiated for his ideal car, completing the purchase in minutes.\u00a0 The CEO described above endorsed his company selling for twice his asking price, after his absence helped the negotiation to be completed within an hour.\u00a0 The partnership described above dissolved without suit after a personal visit by the negotiator without the first partner present resulted in settlement within an hour.\u00a0 The employee that I just described accepted a severance check in trade for a release, without the emotion of arguing out old issues between employee and employer.<\/p>\n

Are you too emotionally involved in a decision?\u00a0 Consider the advice lawyers give to each other and find a surrogate to argue your case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the problem. Negotiating an agreement, especially one that involves personal gain, is tough for the person personally involved.\u00a0 There is too much to lose to be objective, to be willing to walk when terms go upside down. What if … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,20,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-protecting-the-business","category-surrounding-yourself-with-talent"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}