Negotiation is a Game, Enjoy the Process

We all negotiate, and whether we know it or not, we negotiate about almost everything every day.

So it’s worth spending some time thinking about how to negotiate a little better – especially if you negotiate over hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, as EG does in a typical year.

The first thing to realise is that negotiation is a game – much like poker. So the best negotiators don’t take it too seriously. In fact, they learn to enjoy it.

I had a great mentor when I was in my twenties who – whenever a negotiation got intense and I started taking it too seriously – would always smile and say with a twinkle in his eyes: “This is a bit of fun, Adam, isn’t it?”

He would also remind me that great negotiatiors are patient and prepared for a multi-phase play. He’d often say: “We’re in round two of a five round negotiation, so let’s not be too anxious to resolve it all in one go. We need to take them on the journey.”

What my mentor was teaching me all those years ago still applies today: enjoy the tussle (don’t care too much) and be patient (you’re never in a hurry, there’s always time).

#negotiation #mentoring #personaldevelopment