Take a break from election content and learn negotiation tips and tricks using ANOTHER topic that's been in the news recently: baseball!

This week, Gene dives into the world of MLB contract negotiations throughout history and what we can take from each of them to become better businesspeople. Explore the importance of having options and how to create them, do a deep dive into the good and bad of arbitration, and see firsthand why it's important to trust but verify. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton
• Federal Baseball Club v. National League
• Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc.

Ever negotiated with someone who will concede almost everything... except for one really big thing? This week on S4N, Gene explores Ronald Reagan's failed negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachev regarding the nuclear arms race - and breaks down why one man who conceded almost everything still couldn't get a deal done.

Learn how to identify the other side's sticking point, explore and avoid the pitfalls of "shiny object syndrome," and gain negotiation tools straight from American diplomats. Plus, define asymmetric responses and how to handle them, discover how involving someone outside of the negotiation team can help resolve negotiated points, and dare to ask the ever-present question: are you fighting about nothing? Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• An Impossible Dream: Reagan, Gorbachev, and a World Without the Bomb by Guillaume Serina

Circling back, pain points, pivoting, deliverables… how many jargon-y words can you remember hearing in a business setting? Probably a lot more than 7. And yet, despite being designed to energize and motivate team members, have you ever been inspired by one of those buzzwords? Have some of them left you even MORE confused?

This week on S4N, Gene explores how we can move from communication gimmicks, trends, and tactics to real, effective conversations. Using Habit 5 from Stephen Covey's renowned book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", learn how to build on classic mirroring and labeling, retire autobiographical listening and its pitfalls from your business toolbox, and practice both clear communication and empathetic listening.

Plus, discover the "bar rule" for communicating, learn strategies that will make it easier to understand your negotiating partners, and identify the difference between sounding smart and being smart. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey
• "Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking" by Mehdi Hasan
• United States v. Marshall

This week on S4N, Gene is... encouraging gambling? No, he's not, but he IS going to teach you how to get better at negotiation by thinking of it like a game of poker.

Learn how to make better decisions, how to analyze your decisions so you get better at decision-making, and how to think in terms of probabilities, not right or wrong.

Plus, learn the concept of resulting and how to avoid its pitfalls, understand backcasting and pre-mortems and how YOU can use them to get better deals done, and discover the CUDOS framework for decision-making. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "Thinking In Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All The Facts" by Annie Duke
• Rova Farms Resort v. Investors Ins. Co.

This week on S4N, Gene runs a retrospective on Joe Biden's recent deal to release Evan Gershkovich from Russian prison. Using one of the most relevant examples of 2024, learn how to work within red tape, stay focused on your primary goal, and evaluate trade-offs based on your priorities.

Plus, avoid paralysis by analysis, get comfortable with positioning behind the scenes, and gain skills for negotiating in the midst of a moral dilemma. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "Inside the Secret Negotiations to Free Evan Gershkovich", the Wall Street Journal piece by Joe Parkinson, Drew Hinshaw, Bojan Pancevski, and Aruna Viswanatha

Can you ever compromise your positions in a negotiation? Should you compromise them? Will you lose power if you do?

This week on S4N, Gene explores the difference between principles and positions through the lens of the US Civil War and the resulting negotiations between the Union and the Confederacy. Learn how to compromise on a position without weakening your negotiating power, explore the dangers of using intermediaries to communicate negotiation positions, and pinpoint why you can't ignore the elephant in the room - even when the topic is likely to polarize it.

Plus, talk about how to find common ground and maintain personal connection even when professional agreement can't be reached, and learn the #1 failure of CEOs. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Lincoln, the 2012 film directed by Steven Spielberg
• "Our One Common Country: Abraham Lincoln And The Hampton Roads Peace Conference Of 1865" by James Conroy
• Your independent book store recommendation: Sleepy Dog Books, Mt. Pleasant, MI

This week on S4N, Gene is breaking down the horrific violence in Gaza from a negotiator's perspective, starting with the question: how did we get here?

Dive into the history of bad negotiations that got us to this point, study why self-determination can go bad, and learn how to determine who has the actual power in a situation.

Plus, explore why smaller goals are often better, gain tools you can use to circumvent disputes, and investigate why binary thinking kills. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World" by Margaret MacMillan
• PeacePlayers International

Have you ever worked with someone who refused to work with you? A boss who had lofty goals, yet was completely out of touch? Someone so sure they were right that they failed to see where things could go wrong?

This week on S4N, Gene looks at this type of negotiator and highlights their weaknesses, mistakes, and pitfalls so that YOU can avoid being that person in your own deals. Learn about the credibility gap and how to close it, identify the messages you unconsciously send to your negotiating partners, and explore the risks of an all or nothing mindset. Plus, dive into implementation, highlight the importance of flexibility, and gain tools to avoid boxing yourself in. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae
• "Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed The World" by Margaret MacMillan
• Your independent bookshop recommendations:
  • Boulder Bookstore, Boulder, CO
  • Buxton Village Books, Buxton, NC
  • Buxton Books, Charleston, SC

How do you negotiate with bad people? This week on S4N, Gene takes you through the tactics your adversary might use against YOU and how to neutralize them. Explore the host vs. guest framework of negotiation, evaluate deals using a "negotiation budget," and learn when NOT to make concessions.

Plus, define confidence vs. courtesy and concession vs. compromise, build your business acumen with the use of psychology, and break down a negotiation that involved the worst person to ever walk the earth. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Hunt For Red October, the 1990 film directed by John McTiernan
• "The Kremlin School of Negotiation" by Igor Ryzov
• The Order of the Day" by Eric Vuillard
• Your independent bookshop recommendations:
  • Watchung Booksellers, Montclair, NJ
  • Horizon Books, Traverse City, MI
  • Booktrader of Hamilton, Hamilton Township, NJ

Mentioning puppies and Putin in the same podcast? Gene sure did. This week on S4N, Gene explores the Brittney Griner case as a teaching tool for negotiating with unreasonable people. Learn what the Kremlin can teach you about dealmaking (yes, really), break down the difference between emotional and rational decisions + their impact on negotiation, and dive into publicity's impact on dispute resolution.

Plus, gain tactics for coping with unreasonable people, discover the matrix of replaceability, and harness the power of opening a back channel - and the power of knowing when to keep it closed. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present" by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
• "The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin" by Steven Lee Myers
• "The Kremlin School Of Negotiation" by Igor Ryzov
• "Government Negotiations: The Brittney Griner Case" by Katie Shonk for the Harvard Program on Negotiation
• "Brittney Griner Evaluated After Prisoner Swap" by New York Times staff