Archive for September, 2009

By Karen S. Walch, Ph.D.

This week we will enhance brain performance and right brain qualities with a focus on the psychology of negotiation. Classic power laws assert that power can be attained when we become a master psychologist of others. Baltasar Gracian, a 17th century expert on power, wrote: “Many people spend time studying the properties of animals or herbs; how much more important it would be to study those of the people with whom we must live or die!”

The focus of this classic law is that power can be achieved through the mastery of knowing the psychology and motivations of others. The classicists warn us that careless experiments involving the properties of emotions and power can be as dangerous as playing with fire. You can spare others, and yourself, a lot of pain if you are disciplined and not “bungling” in your knowledge about others’ hidden motives.
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The Honorable Kathleen Stephens, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, has spent her career immersed in foreign cultures. Her advice for people who live or work in unfamiliar environments is simple: 1. “Eat the food,” and 2. “Learn the language, even if it’s just a little bit, and use the language.” Watch more in this World Cafe video shot Sept. 15, 2009, during the ambassador’s visit to Thunderbird.

By Karen S. Walch, Ph.D.

A classic component in the acquisition of power is to expertly master your strategy and emotions. Impatience, for example, weakens a negotiator and is an impediment to the possession of power. The least powerful and most ineffective negotiators are those who are neither reflective about their strategic moves nor their own or others’ emotions. It is necessary in the laws of classic power to “train your eye to follow the results of others’ moves, the outward circumstances, and not be distracted by anything else.” The mastery of these skills opens up endless possibilities for deception and manipulation.

The majority of the negotiators I work with today have consistently pursued these same basic methods of self reflection about their strategic moves and their emotions in a negotiation. However, the power attained through this discipline of strong analytic skills and emotional and social intelligence is deployed not primarily for manipulation games, but most often for facilitation practices. The most common of personal and professional negotiations today require vital facilitation skills that require negotiators to achieve sustainable agreements which meet one’s own objectives and assist others to accomplish their own as well. A disciplined understanding of the strategic and emotional elements yields constructive negotiation relationships and workable solutions.
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By Karen S. Walch, Ph.D.

One of the classic keys to power is to have a strong presence that will draw more power and attention to you. Once that certain level of power is attained, then you must learn the couturiers’ game of “hide-and-seek.” Negotiation energy and tactics involve strategic, time-consuming maneuvers to be absent and “starve others of your presence.” This is all part of your Machiavellian artifice necessary to portray a powerful presence.

This week, I encourage you to assess and develop your own power presence. However, I need to point out that many successful global negotiators I work with today choose not to play the hide-and-seek game, and have changed the basic rules about how to develop a strong presence as a negotiator.
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Bridging Cultural Barriers, by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

Having been personally and professional involved with the cultures of China, Japan and Korea since the late 1940s, I have spent a lifetime comparing and contrasting their cultures with American culture — and seen some remarkable and disturbing changes take place over that time-frame. There are a dozen or more fundamental aspects of Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures that make them different from American culture, but just one of these elements provides deep insight into the differences in their mindset and behavior, and ours — and is a warning signal for the future of the United States.
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By Karen S. Walch, Ph.D.

As an educator and student of negotiation, I have observed that if you want to increase your power, increase your insight about yourself. One assumption from the classics that prevails yet today is that everyone wants more power. We all want to increase our power because it is human nature to do so.

Power and negotiation are what validate our identity in the world. Power is a means to get what we want directly and specifically by working through others, both personally and professionally. Power is a positive, invigorating and necessary negotiation resource utilized across social, political and cultural boundaries.

Wherever you are is the entry point to unlocking your sources of power which are social, psychological, intellectual, economic and political.
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Global Chameleon, by Vincent Daniels

All salesmen are taught that building trust is the key to successful selling. In order to build trust we try to develop a rapport with the client and, hopefully, cement a bond. Developing this relationship and the ensuing trust is a major first step to developing a long-term client. For some companies trust is built-in. When we buy from a well-known online retailer, we trust that we will receive what we ordered and that the quality will be acceptable.
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