The word ‘No’ gets a bad rap. Sure it has a negative connotation, arguably it’s the essence of negative, but there is a lot of power in a good ‘No’! The problem is that we’re innately wired to view ‘No’ as a problem – which means we don’t like saying it and we don’t like […]

We all deal with conflict on a regular basis – whether that’s at work (challenging employee or coworker, difficult customer or vendor) or at home (spouse, kids, neighbors, that one parent on the soccer team you coach…). Conflict doesn’t have to mean a knock-down drag out brawl, often it’s just a difference of opinion, a […]

The other day I was reminded of a great (and very simple) negotiating technique that can work in a lot of different scenarios. I (and the person who reminded me) had first seen this idea in the book ‘Never Split The Difference’ by Chris Voss. Voss had picked it up as part of his experience […]

      This is a guest post from Mike Milich – founder of SwiftNegotia and the guy you want to know if you’re doing any serious (big dollar) negotiations.  Mike was generous enough to share the following post – and it’s a great way to quickly diagnose if there’s a lack of skills problem […]

It’s not always obvious, but the skill of negotiation is really at the heart of business success. Don’t think of negotiation as just closing that big deal, negotiation is really about resolving conflicts successfully – conflicts with employees, conflicts with clients, conflicts with business partners or key vendors…the need for great negotiating skills is a […]