In the world, many firms are subcontracting out activities that in past decades they would have had employees do. Why is that? One of the modern economic theories which we use at Mobus Creative Negotiating is transaction cost economics by Nobel-Prize-winning economist John Williamson. He developed and expanded the work of Ronald Coase from the 1930s. The basic question they… read more →
Charles Lamb is a Johns Hopkins University brain surgeon who studies creativity and speaks about his work in a way any layman can follow; see https://www.ted.com/talks/charles_limb_your_brain_on_improv/transcript . He admits that his speciality is a little odd; as he puts it, “I have never had a patient tell me, ‘I really want you to be creative during surgery.’” He is fascinated… read more →
We at Mobus Creative Negotiating are constantly checking out the latest research to see what can help negotiators. We often talk about “behavioral economics” which one recent survey described as follows: “Much of behavioral economics consists in using psychological insights to influence behavior. These interventions tend to be small, often involving subtle changes in how choices are presented” (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/opinion/sunday/behavioral-economics.html). Debates… read more →
We at Mobus Creative Negotiating have long taught techniques for negotiating by phone as well as face to face. Well, that’s becoming passé. Phoning is so 20th century: no millennials speak on a phone. To quote an August 9, 2018, Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/09/want-better-customer-service-dont-call-text, “Some 20 million businesses now use Facebook Messenger each month to talk to their customers.” Facebook’s… read more →
We’ve been too busy here at Mobus to keep up and now we’re trying to catch up. I plan on doing a few blog posts to provide quick updates. Please check back for new blogs over the next couple of weeks like this one on the live, public seminars, the Mobus eCourse and perhaps even news on the upcoming book… read more →
There is an easy way to avoid the perception of failure in negotiations: don’t ever do anything risky. Set the bar for success super-low, and you are likely to succeed every time at doing at meeting that (low) goal. Fear of failure dominates many negotiators, leading them to take few risks. A basic reason is what Carol Dweck calls… read more →
Negotiators often have to decide what to focus on. It might seem that people will naturally concentrate on what is most important; after all, that’s the rational thing to do. But as we at Mobus Creative Negotiating keep emphasizing, human beings are not always rational. Recent research by a team led by Johns Hopkins University professor Meng Zhu, published in… read more →
Having worked with leading firms across the spectrum of American business, the stiffest negotiating challenge faced by procurement and sourcing professionals is trying to make a favorable agreement when buying from a sole source supplier. This topic was the focus of an article I co-wrote with Howard Levy, the Sourcing VP of Zimmer Biomet. The article, running in the current… read more →
We at Mobus Creative Negotiating emphasize that people are not always rational: they often react emotionally even when that reaction does not appear to be in their best interest. We draw on the research of modern economics – often called “behavioral economics” – which has shown how often emotions trump reason. That is a huge change from “classical economics” which… read more →
Words we never hear these days, yet the most successful negotiators are those open to the possibility that in fact: you are correct, and I am mistaken. In a recent New York Times column https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/opinion/sunday/liberal-conservative-divide.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion-columnists, Nicholas Kristof describes an experiment with 1,000 people. When asked to look at simple data and draw conclusions about a skin cream’s effectiveness, Democrats and Republicans… read more →
When Chief Justice John Roberts gave the address at his son’s 9th grade graduation last spring, he said he wanted to address “some of the harsh realities that everyone will face in the course of a full life:” From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so you will come to know… read more →
Since our middle name is “creative,” we at Mobus Creative Negotiating emphasize creative ways to add value to a deal: to do things neither side was thinking of but which make for a better deal. Many people think creativity is like lightning: it strikes or it doesn’t. Actually, there is much we can do to stimulate us to consider the… read more →
We always get questions about business relationships and partnering. What are the dangers? Don’t they tend to favor one side or the other? When we get into one, what can we do to make sure it is working out as intended? The problem we see is that when customer-vendor relationships are first entered into, say with a long-term agreement or… read more →
There was a lot of interest in our last newsletter piece, “The 25% Solution.” After reflecting on the comments, I thought it might be worthwhile to discuss. The most common comment or question goes something like this: “I’ve tried this but it just seems to make the other party angry or annoyed. Then they push back, dig in or take… read more →
Every year, sometime in May, the ISM convention is held at rotating sites around the country. This year’s event, held in Orlando, May 21-24, was attended by several thousand procurement and sourcing specialists from leading companies across the U.S. Mobus Creative Negotiating brought a small team to share some of our expertise in negotiation, and to learn from other… read more →
Participant Questions from Webinar, “GETTING CREATIVE: NEGOTIATING IN THE 21st CENTURY” by Dr. Bill Sanders, Business Analyst In last Wednesday’s webinar, Frank and Alexandra looked at the evolving nature of business negotiation. As many business deals, especially for procurement or sales professionals have become more complex, based on repeated transactions and highly-customized solutions, negotiating styles need to change. Old-fashioned power-based… read more →
Using the Truth to Mislead A widely used negotiating tactic, but one which we at Mobus Creative Negotiating do not recommend, is to use the truth to mislead. Philosophers call that “paltering.” A recent Washington Post article by Jena McGregor gives as an example: if the buyer to whom you are selling a used car says, “I presume it runs… read more →
How to Motivate Negotiators The common assumption is what motivates people is money. Makes sense – but what does the evidence show? Behavioral economists have done path-breaking research by questioning these sort of assumptions. We at Mobus Creative Negotiating have drawn much from the work of Dan Ariely. And so we turned eagerly to his new book, Payoff: The Hidden… read more →
Recent Comments