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

Does negotiation really still work in an increasingly disagreeable culture? How do you create structure in difficult dealmaking? How do you keep momentum going when things are tense? How do you close that kind of deal?

This week on S4N, Gene examines the ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland, widely known as "The Troubles," to see what it can teach us about modern-day dealmaking. Learn about the Mitchell principles of negotiation, sharpen your understanding of the strategic use of deadlines, and tuck Gene's "morning-afternoon-evening" approach to difficult negotiations in your back pocket. Plus, break down the importance of "buying a ticket to the dance," gain tools for negotiating with belligerent parties, and get tips on how to identify and seize what Gene calls the moment of courage. Remember: negotiation is life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• "No Hope For Tomorrow," a poem by Irish woman Karen Woods
• "Making Peace" by George Mitchell
• Your independent bookshop recommendations:
  • Pegasus Books, Oakland, CA
  • Warwick's, La Jolla, CA
  • Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, IL

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." That's an infamous line from the 1987 movie Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas as the high-powered financier Gordon Gekko. But is greed good?

This week on S4N, Gene explores the double-edged sword of greed and how it impacts your negotiations. Learn common pitfalls to avoid, discover the difference between pushing the envelope and pushing buttons, and reverse engineer a high-profile failed deal so that you don't make the same mistakes. Plus, learn about leveraged buyouts and negotiating with private equity, explore why getting cozy with management is important, and uncover why a bidding war can mean trouble for a deal. Remember: negotiation is life.

Works mentioned in this episode:

• Wall Street, the 1987 film directed by Oliver Stone
• "Barbarians At The Gate" by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
• Barbarians At The Gate, the 1993 film directed by Glenn Jordan

This week on S4N, Gene conducts a post-mortem on the tragic Waco massacre and asks the question: what happens when a negotiation fails? Learn about overcommitment, the impact a chain of command can have on the negotiation process, why controlling information and coordinating effort is key, and how a game of telephone can kill your negotiation. Plus, check out how to use the "trickle flow gush" strategy in extremely difficult negotiations, gain tools for navigating multilevel negotiations, remind yourself why you really need active listening and mirroring, and learn why the punishment mindset gets you nowhere. Remember: negotiation is life.

Works mentioned in this episode:

• "Stalling For Time: My Life As An FBI Hostage Negotiator" by Gary Noesner
• "Dragnet," the 1950s NBC drama series later remade to star Dan Aykroyd