This week I sat down with business lawyer and passionate negotiator, Kwame Christian.

Kwame is a business lawyer and the Director of the American Negotiation Institute. In this role, he conducts live negotiation and conflict resolution training sessions for organizations.

Kwame’s Tedx Talk, Finding Confidence in Conflict, was viewed over 24,000 times in less than 24 hours and was the most popular Tedx Talk on conflict of 2017.

Kwame hosts the podcast Negotiate Anything, where he interviews successful professionals and shares powerful persuasion techniques. With over 200,000 downloads and listeners in 140 countries, it is the top-ranked negotiation and dispute-resolution podcast in the nation.

Kwame is the proud husband of Dr. Whitney Christian and father of Kai Christian.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why negotiations are so scary and uncomfortable
• Two different reasons people refuse to engage in negotiations
• The problem with not preparing for a negotiation
• What you should do when preparing for a negotiation
• 3 steps to take to improve your outcomes in negotiations
• The difference between collaborative and competitive
• The importance of setting and knowing your limits
• How to say no without jeopardizing the relationship
• The power of the “no sandwich”
• How to remove emotions from a negotiation
• Kwame’s simple definition of what a negotiation is
• The three steps of compassionate curiosity
• Kwame’s two year old example of compassionate curiosity
• Finding the gold in the difficult conversations
• The big factor in the negotiation outcome discrepancy between men and women
• How much money you could be losing in lifetime earnings if you don’t negotiate
• The reason behind getting comfortable being uncomfortable
• The power of anchoring in negotiations
• The rule of thump if and when you should make the first offer
• Knowing when the “best and final” is on the table

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW:

• American Negotiation Institute
• TedX Talk: Finding Confidence in Conflict
• Negotiate Anything podcast
• Kwame’s Negotiation Guide
• The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
• Women Don’t Ask by Linda Babcock and Sarah Laschever
• Negotiating Your Next Pay Raise blog post
• Nobody Will Play With Me by Kwame Christian (**Coming Soon!**)

GET SOCIAL WITH KWAME AND LET HIM KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HIM HERE

• Kwame's Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Kwame’s Email