REAL-WORLD INSIGHTS

Published: Sep 20 , 2021
Author: Millie Davis

Among those who have fallen in love with the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, many of us have grown fond of the character Nathan Shelley, a coach for the Richmond football team (known as soccer here in the US). In Season 2, Episode 5, Coach Nate is faced with a precarious situation when he must negotiate with a host at the restaurant his father “complains about the least.” Coach Nate tries to procure the window table for his parents’ 35th wedding anniversary dinner, but the host insists that they don’t take reservations for that table. Using what he believes is his leverage, he name-drops Roy Kent — a star footballer who’s also a coach for the Richmond team — to which the host replies that if Roy Kent comes in, he can have the table.

Published: Sep 13 , 2021
Author: Brian Buck

When it comes to negotiating, one of the most difficult decisions we face is whether or not to walk away from the table. There’s a lot of finality to that decision, and it’s not one to be taken lightly. Recently, we were faced with that decision regarding a piece of business we were chasing. Walking away from potential business is never easy, but in some cases it’s the only path forward. Here’s what happened in our situation.

Published: Aug 30 , 2021
Author: Brian Buck

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good,” said Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street. That sentiment has been the Achilles' heel of many negotiations. I was recently working with a group of people from a technology company who looked at negotiating as a win-lose proposition. They felt that it was all about dominating the other party, taking them for everything that you can. They literally believed that negotiation was the instrument of greed, and that notion has had a tremendous impact on how they resolve conflicts.