Podcast on Negotiation

Joel Lee has been training in the martial arts for 30 years and is the Chief Instructor of the Singapore Wing Tsun Training Centre. Apart from being an exponent of Wing Tsun. He has also experience in Jeet Kune Do, Kali and Aikido. By day, his secret identity is mildmannered Negotiation Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, where he teaches conflict resolution and furthers the development of mediation in Singapore. Joel has received the National University of Singapore’s highest teaching award and an Honorable Mention by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.

In our podcast, we talk about the similarities between martial arts and negotiation and what we can learn from them. Joel also shares how to become a gongfu master and what the shortest way to self-mastery is. He also explains the concept of congruence and why it is relevant for conflict resolution. We touch upon Joel's favorite movie "Kungfu Panda" and talk about its deep philosophical meaning and the panda bear effect. We also discuss why Bruce Lee said that the best martial art is "fighting without fighting" and why “the best self-defense is to make a friend.” Finally, we touch upon the meaning of competitions in martial arts and in negotiation and their role in attaining mastery.

Mark Young is a consultant, trainer, writer and lecturer in the field of mediation and negotiation skills training and analysis. His company, Rational Games Inc, serves a variety of clients in the public and private sectors in the US, UK and Germany. Mark’s business career has afforded him ample opportunities to do so, as he has served as a corporate lending officer at Chase Manhattan Bank, a strategic consultant at McKinsey & Company, a partner at Price Waterhouse Corporate Finance and a trade negotiator in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

With Mark we discuss whether negotiation is a fight or a game/dance and how we can become better negotiators. Mark also explains why the shortest way to achiving great negotiation results leads through playing games. He also shares his experience with using the power of games in conflict resolution in various places around the world.

Jeswald W. Salacuse is one of the most renown professors in the field of negotiation and does not need an introduction. Nevertheless, for all those who have not come across his legacy yet, here are a few words about him.

Jes is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and a former Dean of The Fletcher School of Tufts University. His teaching and research interests include international negotiation, leadership, law and development, and international investment law.

He has taught in all around the world including Nigeria, Congo, Lebanon, Sudan, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, and of course at some of the best schools in the US.Jes has worked as consultant to multinational companies, government agencies, international organizations, universities, foundations and foreign governments and served on board of various prestigeous organizations, as the chairman of the Institute of Transnational Arbitration, chairman of the board of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, the founding president of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), chairman of the India Fund, president and member of international arbitration tribunals of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, lead independent director of the Legg Mason closed-end funds, and the executive committee and faculty of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Wow! What an impressive list!

Jes wrote twenty books and in our podcast, we took a closer look at one of them: "Real Leaders Negotiate! – Gaining, Using, and Keeping the Power to Lead through Negotiation". We discussed the similarities and differences between negotiation and leadership. Jes introduced 7 main tasks of leaders (negotiating direction, integration, motivation and education, resolving conflicts, and representing organizations) and explained, why each of them requires and involves negotiation. He shared how to recognize leadership potential in others and what other skills except negotiation, great leaders need to demonstrate.

A must watch for all current and aspiring leaders!

Valerie Rosoux is a Research Director at the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research. She teaches International Negotiation and Transitional Justice at the UCLouvain in Belgium. Valerie is a member of the Belgian Royal Academy and an External Scientific Fellow at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg and at the Max Planck Institute Halle. She has a degree in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Political Sciences. Her research interests focus on post-war reconciliation and the uses of memory in international relations. In 2010-2011, she was a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (Washington DC). In the past twenty years she trained diplomats, NGO workers, military officers, and students in Europe, Africa, and the USA.

With Valerie we discussed what is reconciliation and why it is often more important than negotiation or mediation. We looked at the prerequisites for a successful reconciliation process, defineed what it is and go through its consecutive steps. Finally, Valerie will shared her recommendations for managing successful reconciliation processes.

European Union was designed to handle complex multi-issue, often multilateral negotiations between the Member States and external stakeholders. Alain Guggenbühl, PhD has analyzed countless EU negotiations and derived key success factors that we can learn from them. In our podcast:

• we discuss the EU's negotiation competencies and how they can be improved,

• we look at the main negotiation challenges of the EU diplomats and how to master them

• we go through Alain's 6 success factors in the EU negotiations

• Alain explains why Talleyrand was the greatest negotiator of all times

Alain is a founder of DNA Consulting Europe, a Brussels based company advising on the processes of diplomacy, negotiation, and arbitration of interests. He has specialized in the science of negotiation in two ways. First academically, by teaching courses and publishing on EU policy-making, negotiation theory, and international negotiations. Second, by working with officials and diplomats from EU institutions and national administrations on the management of interstate and interinstitutional negotiations. He has also directed an EU Law Office in Brussels and managed litigations. He holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from Université catholique de Louvain, two master degrees from the College of Europe, and has graduated in International Public Affairs.

NEW BOOK ALERT!

Barney Jordaan, negotiation professor at Vlerick Business School, has just published his new book: "Negotiation and Dispute Resolution for Lawyers" and during our podcast, we take a closer look it and discuss the most important lessons we can learn from it.

Barney originally comes from South Africa and is a lawyer by training. Having obtained a BA (law) LLB and a doctorate in law from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, he started his academic career and became professor of law at his alma mater. He has held multiple appointments as visiting professors at some of the best law and business schools in South Africa and Europe.Over the years, Barney has successfully combined his accomplished academic career with legal practice in the areas of employment relations, negotiation, mediation and dispute/conflict resolution. He is a seasoned international mediator, served as external consultant to The World Bank Group's Office of Mediation Services and has helped resolve some of the most complex disputes and conflict around the world.

With Barney we discuss:

• seismic changes in the legal practice

• whether legal negotiations are distinctly different from other negotiations

• why laywers need a dedicated book on negotiation and dispute resolution.

• why Barney decided to write it

• what the book is all about and who and why should read it

• most common mistakes laywers make in their negotiations

• Barney's recommendations for young lawyers.

• whether lawyers are good negotiators

This time in the Podcast on Negotiation I hosted Francesco Marchi, Adjunct Professor of Political Science and Director of the Research and Training program “Negotiators of Europe” at the Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation (ESSEC IRENE). Francesco has has trained hundreds, if not thousands officials of various European institutions (European Commission, European Parliament, and EEAS), and diplomats around the world. He has also advised and supported countless EU negotiation teams in their most complex bilateral and multilateral negotiations.

With Francesco we talked about:

• negotiation as an organizational capability

• organizations' negotiation maturity

• how organizations can build their negotiation capabilities and increase their negotiation maturity beyond the skill development on the individual level

• organizations with the highest negotiation capabilities and explained how they acquired them

• the EU and its negotiation maturity

• the outcomes of high negotiation maturity levels in commercial and non-commercial organizations.

In this episode of Podcast on Negotiation, I hosted Kavya, Brandon and Sewit, who successfully represented Berkley Law in The Negotiation Challenge for Students 2022 and won the title of Negotiation World Champions!

With Team Berkeley Law we talked about:

• how they prepared for the competition

• why diversity is so important in negotiation

• their experience, key takeaways and lessons learned from the competition

• their reflection upon the value of negotiation competitions

• key differences between negotiation courses, training and negotiation competitions.

• recommendations for future contestants.

Rudolf Schüssler is a philosophy professor at Bayreuth University and a member of the Steering Committee at the PIN group.

With Rudolf we talked about truth, lies and... Immanuel KANT!

• Was Kant a good negotiator?

• Has he ever lied?

• How categorical and culturally universal is his categorical imperative really?

• Was Kant emotionally intelligent and did he enjoy his life?

• Why he never married?

• Would he get along with our today's society?

• But above of all, is it possible to be a great negotiator without lying?

Paul Meerts is an international expert on diplomatic negotiations, co-founder of The Clingendael Institute, member of the Steering Committee of the Process of International Negotiation (PIN) and the founder of Program on International Negotiation Training (POINT).

With Paul we discussed:

• how playing games had led to launching negotiation training for diplomats?

• how PON (Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School) and PIN (Process of International Negotiation) had started and what is the difference between them?

• the differences between the European and US negotiating styles?

• who is a great negotiator and why?

• how to deal with egotiators?

• his advice to young negotiators!