Archive for December, 2009

By Karen S. Walch, Ph.D.

In classic decrees about power, precise strategic thinking is the centerpoint and most celebrated talent and requirement of a successful negotiator. Carl von Clausewitz, 19th century strategist, noted that there are “very few people who are able to think beyond the present moment”; therefore, only those with the requisite analytic skills can increase their power. However, in the 21st century, research on intelligence and human potential increasingly has determined that we have reached the “edge” of what analytic thinking alone can achieve and sustain. Today’s negotiators face complex problems that require brain capacities beyond the limits of left brain logic or linear calculations alone. This week’s law addresses how negotiators today are reaching beyond the boundaries of “acceptable” science to enhance their fundamental critical and strategic thinking negotiation skills.
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By Karen S. Walch, Ph.D.

In classic notions of power, experts of deception calculate how to disguise their malicious intentions. They cultivate an air of honesty as a decoy in order to manipulate and mislead others. The appearance of friendliness and trustworthiness, according to classic power strategists, yields results because it is a basic human instinct to trust appearances. Con artists and predatory negotiators, for example, cleverly guide others “down a path of blinding smoke” that it is often too late when the unaware discover they have been manipulated. This week we will address how these devices of the past have been gracefully improved upon by many contemporary negotiators.
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