REAL-WORLD INSIGHTS

Published: Aug 10 , 2020
Author: Brian Buck

Like many of you, I’ve watched a lot of movies, documentaries, and TV shows. I keep waiting for Netflix to notify me, “There are no more suggestions for you!” Recently, I went back and watched the Godfather series. The line, “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse” always piques my interest. We later learn that the offer was more of a threat than a credible proposal. Then again, there probably wasn’t much of a negotiation either. However, it got me to thinking about the other kinds of proposals we receive that tend to stifle negotiations.

Published: Aug 03 , 2020
Author: Brian Buck

In the ’80s cult comedy favorite Strange Brew, the bad guys have cut the brake lines to the van of our beloved good guys, the McKenzie brothers. When the brakes fail, the brothers are perilously driving down a steep hill, out of control, their demise imminent. At that moment, Doug turns to his brother, Bob, and says, “No point in steering now.” There’s not a day that goes by during this pandemic when I haven’t felt that same sentiment. The same goes for a lot of our clients, who are dealing with constant changes in their budgets and contract terms, or with clients and suppliers. Coping with change has become a skill unto itself. Here are some tips that, we find, are helping people to deal with these changes.

Published: Jul 27 , 2020
Author: Brian Buck

As Mark Twain put it, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Every day we’re bombarded with COVID-19 statistics and oftentimes contradictory statistics. For example, I recently read two different headlines at two different reputable media outlets: “COVID Daily Death Toll Rises” and “COVID Daily Death Toll Declines.” Both were posted on the same day! The confounding part is that both were accurate statements. And this is not an isolated incident. Every day I see commercial deals being negotiated with conflicting statistics seemingly based on the same data sets, and it leads to infuriating debates and time-wasting circular arguments. Knowing how to deal with statistics — or, as Mark Twain put it, those “damned lies” — is a necessity for skilled negotiators.