Negotiating the Sweet Spot: The Art of Leaving Nothing on the Table

Description

Everybody negotiates at various points every day, be it in life or business, and it's important to get it right. On average, people leave about 20% of potential mutual gains untapped in any negotiation. This is akin to taking 20% of the value in any deal and dumping it into a garbage canister. Finding that hidden 20%, the "sweet spot," is a skill that takes practice but is also one that anybody can learn. Leigh Thompson offers best practices and tools within this book to use in daily negotiations and conflict situations. She calls these strategies "hacks" because they work but don't require a lot of investment, training, expense, and time. You don't have to be a CEO, senior VP, or regional brand manager to learn how to find the sweet spot in life's negotiations. In Negotiating the Sweet Spot, benefits include learning the following: Understanding where the sweet spot is in the deals you negotiate Adopting a big-picture mind-set when approaching any negotiation Seeing negotiations less as win-lose battles and more as opportunities to use problem-solving skills Utilizing a tool kit of "hacks" that will work in any negotiation and have been proven effective by a top expert in the field Negotiating the Sweet Spot walks people of all skill and experience levels through simple and proven techniques that are sure to result in better outcomes for all parties and that uncover the hidden value that exists in any negotiation.

Leigh Thompson knows firsthand how negotiations can degenerate into lose-lose outcomes, having witnessed her parents' divorce after twenty-five years of marriage. She decided after that point to learn how to help people get better outcomes in their negotiations and is now a decorated, full professor at the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Thompson directs several highly successful Kellogg executive education courses, including Leading High-Impact Teams, Constructive Collaboration, and High-Performance Negotiation Skills. In addition, she teaches over 2,500 executives and executive MBA students each year that span the globe from China, Hong Kong, Germany, Israel, Latin America, and Canada, as well as the United States.

'Any relationship, be it personal, business, or otherwise, needs interactions that yield consistent win-win results if it is to succeed over time. Dr. Leigh Thompson has applied her expertise in comprehensive research to take this 'why' we recognize and explain the 'what' behind it and the 'how' to achieve it. Translating this research to application, Dr. Thompson, the educator, uses her mastery of guiding students from theoretical knowledge to effective application by providing a toolkit of easy-to-use hacks and relatable anecdotes. Negotiating the Sweet Spot will certainly spend more time open on my desk than it will sitting on my shelf.' -- S t a n R u s s e l l , Executive Director of Alexion Pharmaceuticals 'Thompson's Negotiating the Sweet Spot provides valuable lessons for navigating conflict in personal and business life. Each of the stories and best practices in this book leads the reader on a deeper dive into how to resolve, finesse, learn, and thrive when seated at the negotiation table of life.' -- L i n S h i u Yi , Owner of Technigroup Far East and Owner and CEO Cell Viable Leigh Thompson has done it again. This time, she applies years of research and classroom experience to the negotiation process. Thompson distills the behavioral science into simple methods we can all use. Negotiating the Sweet Spot is a must-read for practicing attorneys and others who want to negotiate more successfully in all aspects of their lives.' -- K a r e n M c G a f f e y, Partner and National Environment, Energy, 'Navigating conflict is a sore spot for many of us--both in and out of work. This book makes it possible to rise above compromise and create options better than any one person might imagine. Finally, we can see the skills involved and how to build them in easy, practical ways. Now the sweet spot is not only possible, but we have a set of tools to get there!' -- A l i s o n N i e d e r k o r n , Executive Leadership Designer, Facilitator, and Coach at Google In sales on a daily basis, I face the challenge of building trust, accelerating customer success, and maximizing deal sizes. The tools in this book are a breakthrough in the field of negotiations and have had an immediate impact on my bottom line and business relationships, and at the same time have added immense value for my clients to achieve a true win-win at the end of a deal cycle.' --D e n n i s R a i s c h , Senior Enterprise Account Executive at Salesforce 'Thompson's evidence-based, tangible, and practical tools have guided me in countless professional negotiations to levels of success that I could not have ever imagined. In Negotiating the Sweet Spot, the revelation that the universe of negotiations is vastly larger than just the ones faced in a boardroom will broaden your appreciation, as it has mine, of how to maximize mutual benefit and build strength into not only your professional but personal relationships.' -- K e v i n A . K e l l i h e r , Director of Business Strategy and Operations at Frontier BPM Inc