Filtered dossier

negotiation

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  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0330

    Why splitting the difference rewards the extreme opener

    Meeting in the middle sounds fair, but the middle is computed from the two openings, which hands the result to whoever opened further out.

    Master
    The hidden part #0330

    A fair-looking rule applied to unfair inputs launders the asymmetry instead of removing it.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0328

    Why your alternative decides your position

    Bargaining strength comes mostly from what you will do if there is no agreement, and that is settled before anyone sits down at the table.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0328

    Your leverage is the value of your best outside option, not the strength of your arguments.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0107

    Why the first number in a negotiation outlives the argument

    Both sides argue for an hour and land near the figure one of them said in the first minute. The argument was real. It was also decorative.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0107

    Anchoring is not the failure to move. It is that the whole conversation happened inside a region somebody else chose before it began.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0344

    Why an expiring offer is a test of your alternatives

    A deadline attached to an offer rarely reflects an external constraint. It measures whether you have somewhere else to go, and it does so cheaply.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0344

    A deadline is cheap to impose and expensive to justify. The reaction it produces is what it was for.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0342

    Why questions extract more than arguments

    A position is a single point. The interests behind it are many, and only one of these can be discovered by asking, because arguing addresses the point instead.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0342

    Arguments contest a position. Questions decompose it, and only the components can be traded.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0339

    The reason a walk-away must be credible to work

    A threat changes behaviour only if the other side believes you would carry it out. Credibility comes from your position, not from the firmness of your voice.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0339

    A threat is priced by the listener’s estimate of your alternatives, not by your confidence in delivering it.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0338

    Why the word fair is a claim, not a description

    Fairness has several defensible standards that give different answers. Naming one as fair asserts a choice among them while sounding like an observation.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0338

    Fair is not an observation about an outcome. It is an assertion that one standard among several should govern.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0350

    Why the room changes the deal

    Where a negotiation happens assigns status before anybody speaks. Whose building, whose chair and whose ceiling are all part of the opening position.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0350

    The venue assigns host and guest before the agenda starts. It is the one term settled administratively rather than negotiated.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0349

    The reason a negotiation about price is rarely about price

    Price is the one issue both sides can state without exposing anything. It becomes the language in which every other disagreement is conducted.

    Master
    The hidden part #0349

    Price is the only issue that can be argued without exposing anything. That is why other disagreements arrive translated into it.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Negotiation Frames Entry #0348

    Why revealing a constraint can strengthen a position

    A preference can be argued with; a constraint cannot. Showing that you are unable to move is stronger than insisting you are unwilling.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0348

    Disclosing what you want is a loss. Disclosing what you cannot do removes the other side’s move, provided the limit is visible and credible.

    Open file