Negotiating: Getting More by Stuart Diamond - Business Book Review - 5 Invisible Strategies

How confident are you in your negotiating abilities, whether in your personal relationships, professional endeavors, or marketplace, including travel?

One book with a fresh perspective on negotiating is "Getting More: How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World-The 12 Invisible Strategies That Changes Everything You Thought You Knew About Negotiating," by Stuart Diamond.

Diamond embodies 40 years of negotiation expertise and teaches a negotiation course for MBA students.

He shares his entire negotiation class in three broad questions:

What are my goals?Who are "they?"What will it take to persuade them?

The first six chapters explain Diamond's 12 invisible negotiation strategies. These methods aren't rocket science, but unless you already know how to do them; they're completely unseen he says. Five of those skills are:

Goals Are Paramount. Goals are the end-all and be-all of negotiations. You need to negotiate to meet your goals. Everything else is subservient to that. Write down your goals and remind yourself, not just at the beginning of the process, but throughout.Make Emotional Payments. The more important a negotiation is to an individual, the more irrational he or she often becomes. Irrational people are emotional people. When they're emotional, they can't listen. When they can't listen, they can't be persuaded. You need to tap into the other person's emotional psyche with empathy. Value them or offer them other things that allow them to think more clearly.Every Situation is Different. Every negotiation is different because there are different people, or the same people on different days. Or, a different set of facts and circumstances, or a different goal. There is no "one-size-fits-all," including race or gender.Incremental is Best. In our imagination, big, bold moves produce big successes. In reality, big, bold moves mostly scare people; you're trying to go too far too fast. Incremental steps anchor people to the step or steps they've already accepted. They reduce the perceived risk of moving forward.Embrace Differences. Most people think different is wrong, risky, annoying or uncomfortable. But different is demonstratively better. It's more profitable; and studies show that more creativity results from the clash of differing perceptions and experiences.

Diamond emphasizes that mastering the twelve strategies occurs only through practice; and that each method is situation-specific. He also uses the Baseball Hall of Fame as an analogy for your negotiating efforts: "If you are a.280 hitter in baseball, and you get one extra hit every nine games, you become a.310 hitter in baseball. And that is worth a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame and $10 million more in your compensation. All for one extra hit every thirty-six times at bat." You needn't hit a home run when negotiating. Aim for one extra hit every nine games and you'll be highly successful.

The people and processes used comprise more than 90 percent of what's important in a negotiation says Diamond. The substance, facts, and expertise account for less than 10 percent, which is quite counterintuitive for most people.

Negotiating is often viewed as confrontational and manipulative, reserved only for the most talented. Diamond says that great negotiators are developed, not born. Becoming a better negotiator will enhance your self-confidence and provide a detailed approach to problem solving. It will also produce greater control over your life, more money and more peace of mind.

Getting More's chapters include Getting More at Work, Getting More in the Marketplace, Parents and Kids, and Travel. Chapter 15, entitled "Public Issues" provides prescient insight on some of the key questions to ask when evaluating how well people are doing in solving a problem. Those challenges could be within the local school board or halfway around the world in the Middle East. The answers will reveal whether you have the right people negotiating, and the right processes.

If you're looking to hone your negotiation skills, Getting more will provide some clear direction.

To read an excerpt from Getting More, including Diamond's 12-Step Negotiating Model. Visit http://www.gettingmore.com/.

Timothy Zaun is a blogger, speaker and freelance writer. Visit him online at http://timzaun.com/.

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Review - The Skinny On Time Management

The Skinny On Time Management: How to Maximize Your 24-Hour Gift, Jim Randel, 2010, ISBN 9780984139392

Here is another in a series of books that attempts to boil down a large subject area into an easy-to-read format. Intended for busy people who want just the bullet points, this book looks at how to best manage your time.

Write out a time journal for an entire week to see just how you are spending your time. You may think that you are being efficient and productive, but seeing it on paper may change your mind. Can changes be made in your schedule, with more time given to more productive activities? You need to set goals for yourself, whether long-term or short-term. Then you will know how to get from where you are to where you want to be. If your goal is important enough to you, then some other thing you are doing may have to be dropped totally. Choices were never meant to be easy.

The book then covers many ways to maximize your time. Fight the urge to procrastinate. Touch a piece of paper, or email, only once; either respond to it, get rid of it or put it in your file to be worked on later. Are there gaps in your day, like when you are sitting in a waiting room, when you could be working on your Blackberry? Are you a "morning person" or a "night owl?" Work on your hardest and most unpleasant tasks when you are most alert and awake. Learn to plan your day, but don't go overboard with the planning. Prioritize your tasks; which ones come first, and which ones can wait. Break a huge task into smaller, more manageable pieces. Can you batch several appointments, for instance, and get them done in one day? Doing crossword puzzles is a good way to improve your memory. Learn how to focus when you are on a task, and not let distractions get in your way. De-cluttering your office, and your email inbox, will always help. The act of writing a daily To Do list helps focus your mind on what you need to do that day.

Instead of reading a bunch of books on how to manage your time, read this book. It can be read in an hour or so, and does an excellent job of telling the busy person just what they need to know. It is a gem of a book.

Paul Lappen is a freelance book reviewer whose blog, http://www.deadtreesreview.blogspot.com/, emphasizes small press and self-published books.

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"The Steve Jobs Way (iLeadership for a New Generation)" by Jay Elliot and William L Simon

The author Jay Elliot had the opportunity to work in close co-ordination with Steve Jobs as the Senior Vice President of Apple Computer. The favorable combination of circumstances helped Elliot understand the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc. namely Steven Paul Jobs from a very close and professional angle.

In this new business/leadership category type book "The Steve Jobs Way (iLeadership for a New Generation)" by JAICO Publishing House the author Jay Elliot along with William L. Simon shares his understanding on the lessons of leadership he experienced by working in close association with Steve Jobs.

Elliot's articles and interviews have been published earlier in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazine and Fortune whereas William L. Simon holds the credit for being the award winning author of more than twenty books.

By dividing the book into five sections the author cites examples giving a detailed insight on the following aspects of leadership: Product, Talent, Organization and Marketing. Having shared these principles the author goes a step ahead in the last section and make us understand what should individuals do for doing business better and creating new products the same way Steve Jobs did.

Steve firmly believed that where there is passion and pride in one's work success can't be left far behind. In fact both of them (passion and pride) continued to be the assets of a creative mind. And, creativity according to him has never been a 9 to 5 job.

The author shows how Steve is very particular getting into granular level of product details along with his project team. There were occasions when the product had to be redesigned and delivered in the market place five months late as per the planned launched date. But, with passage of time Steve realized that its worth to launch one's product in the market place at the right time rather than eyeing for details. Experience enriched his life and helped Steve learn from these mistakes.

Here is what one-time Apple executive Jean - Louis Gasse has endorsed in this book regards Steve's Management style with a memorable phrase: "Democracies don't make great products - you need competent tyrant". People who worked for Steve forgave him, or at least tolerated his style, in part because more than anything else, he was a product tyrant, totally dedicated to delivering the products he envisioned.

One of Steve's core principles is always to hire the best - "A people," as he calls them. One of his mottoes was: "As soon as you hire a B, they start bringing in Bs and Cs." For Steve an individual's talent, passion and flair were of more prominence even if one was seen lagging a bit on technology or educational front.

Author cites the example of Steve hiring Randy Wiggington, who wrote the code for MacWord, the first real Mac application, when he was still in high school.

If you're looking to keep yourself motivated on your roads to achievements this new collection from business books category is a must read as it is well supplemented with Steve's real life experiences and examples. The book would help the readers relate their own experiences and understand Steve Jobs approach towards Leadership.

One must admit that when your product is launched the stakes are high and the pressure tremendous. Learning the principles The Steve Jobs Way it would help not only ease your pressure but also teach you Steve Jobs creative approach of iLeadership as if they were part of your own.

Author Jay Elliot with William L. Simon
Publisher JAICO Publishing House
Category Business/Leadership
Pages 256
Price Rs 250/-
ISBN 978-81-7992-768-7

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If You Communicate - Read Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion by George J Thompson

"Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion" by George J. Thompson and Jerry B. Jenkins is an outstanding little book that everyone should read. Why do I say everyone? Because everyone communicates with others, and this book will help you become a more effective communicator. It really is that good. The advice is simple, but profound and will enable the person who puts it to practice to listen better and be heard, learn what not to say, engage people through empathy, stop verbal attacks in their tracks, and much more. In fact, there is more practical advice in this one book than in some of my communication classes in college that I paid much more for.

The book is 222 pages long, and is divided into 27 short chapters. Its size is due to the fact that Thompson does not spend any time theorizing or describing complicated communication models, but rather provides simple direct methods for communicating with people, with concrete examples that can be adapted and used by anyone. The lessons in this book have been honed on the streets by police officers, which Thompson is one, as they deal with some of the most unruly public. Thompson believes if the officers involved with the Rodney King incident had taken his course before that unfortunate event, things would have gone much differently. I believe he's right. (The officers were actually scheduled to take Thompson's Verbal Judo class shortly after the incident, if only it had been scheduled earlier.)

In a nutshell, Thompson teaches you to treat people with dignity and respect. He teaches how to develop and maintain relationships rather than break them down and destroy them. The book shows you how to communicate with other effectively. This not only helps reduce conflict, but allows you to be influential with others, gain more from people, have better relationships, and generally be happier with all of your interactions with others.

I read this book a long time ago, and just recently read it again for a refresher. I'll admit, sometimes I fall short of practicing what Thompson teaches, and it does make me feel a bit better to know that Thompson says he's fallen short many times too. I do, however, try to use these techniques and strategies in my dealings with people, and this book has influenced my mediation style as well as the teaching and training I do on mediation and effective communication.

This book will help you, regardless your occupation, sex, age, or whatever. If you communicate with others, read this book to do it better.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a writer, speaker, and mediator who teaches how to live, take action, and get things done through the Warrior's Edge. He is an expert on conflict and mediates and teaches conflict resolution and negotiation. Additionally, he teaches physical conflict skills in his Hapkido and Self-Defense courses, lectures, and seminars. Alain is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks, the DVDs Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking series, and numerous articles and reviews. You can read more articles and reviews and see clips of his DVDs as well as much more at http://www.burrese.com/ and http://www.yourwarriorsedge.com/

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Critical Book Review: How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins

Following his detailed and meticulous statistical review of Good to Great Companies, Jim Collins decided to view the other side of the looking glass in this book, How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In. This book is a case study of eleven American companies and how they fell from being strong economic bastions of entrepreneurial spirit to almost non-existent or irrelevant organizations.

By identifying and then detailing five stages of decline, he supports his premise with hard facts along with some insightful quotations. Additionally within the Appendices and the Notes, there is even more information.

So how do the mighty fall?

As I read the first stage of decline, I was reminded of this old saying: Pride goeth before the fall. Stage one is all about the birth of hubris or arrogance. The attitudes of "we are too big to fail" to "I can lead this company out of its problems" signal the birth of hubris.

The early Greeks defined hubris as excise pride that brings down a hero or a more contemporary definition by is "outrageous arrogance that inflicts suffering upon the innocents." Beyond the companies that Collins researched, we have experienced the hubris of leaders all the time such as the Anthony Wiener or Bernie Madoff scandals to the falls of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac.

Hubris happens when organizations fail to remember the purpose of business that being to serve the community. When your products no longer serve the community, you are destined to fall and fail.

Stage Two is the Undisciplined Pursuit of More. Here organizations experience incredible growth by overreaching or through an obsession to grow even more. When this type of growth happens, it sets the stage of Packard's Law that being "no company can consistently grow revenues faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth and still become a great company."

In Stage Three, Denial of Risk and Peril, the leaders of the organization ignore reality. As they say, "Da Nile is not just a river in Egypt." Collins discussed the waterline approach as described by Bill Gore regarding taking risks. Making a bet on something that may blow a hole above the water line is Okay, but making a bet on something below the water line spells disaster.

Now stage four happens when management is grasping for salvation. Collins compared Hewlett Packard (HP) to IBM. Both companies had started to decline, but Louis V Gerstner, Jr. CEO of IBM changed the course of decline to one of re-growth and revitalization in both people and stock value.

The final and fifth stage is Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death. In this stage, money becomes very tight, the employees and even the customers lose hope. The opportunity for options becomes very limited.

This is a great book to read because of this one simple fact: Organizations are comprised of people. How the Mighty Fall is just as much about people as it is about businesses.

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Blue Ocean Strategy

Handling competition effectively to get appreciable market share and achieve profitability has always been a great challenge to most companies. This is why I want us to examine this book entitled "Blue Ocean Strategy". It is co-authored by Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. Kim is the Boston Consulting Group Bruce D. Henderson chair professor of Strategy and International Management at INSEAD; while Renee Mauborgne is the INSEAD distinguished fellow and professor of Strategy and Management.

According to Kim and Mauborgne, companies have long engaged in head-to-head competition in search of sustained and profitable growth. They add that companies have fought for competitive advantage, battled over market share and struggled for differentiation. The authors say yet in today's overcrowded industries, competing head-on results in nothing but a "red ocean" of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Kim and Mauborgne challenge everything one may know about the requirements for strategic success and contend that while most companies compete within such red oceans, the strategy is increasingly unlikely to create profitable growth in the future.

These authors say based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred and thirty industries, tomorrow's leading companies will succeed not by battling competitors, but by creating "blue oceans" of uncontested market space ripe for growth. Kim and Mauborgne submit that such strategic moves tagged "Value innovation", create powerful leaps in value for both a firm and its buyers, and unleash new demand. These authors assure that this text offers you a systematic approach to staying ahead of competition. They present a proven analytical framework and the tools for successfully creating and capturing blue oceans. The text highlights the six principles that every company can adopt to successfully formulate and execute blue ocean strategies.

Kim and Mauborgne say these six principles guide on how to reconstruct market boundaries, focus on the big picture, reach beyond existing demand, get the strategic right, overcome organisational hurdles and build execution into strategy. The text has three parts of nine chapters. Part one is entitled "Blue ocean strategy" and contains two chapters. Chapter one is tagged "Creating blue oceans". According to Kim and Mauborgne here, it will always be important to swim successfully in the red ocean by out-competing rivals. They expatiate that red oceans will always matter and will always be a fact of business life. These authors say but with supply exceeding demand in more industries, competing for a share of contracting markets, while necessary, will not be sufficient to sustain high performance.

In their words, "Companies need to go beyond competing. To seize new profit and growth opportunities, they also need to create blue oceans. Unfortunately, blue oceans are largely uncharted." These authors say although the term "Blue ocean" is new, its existence is not and it is a feature of business life, past and present. Kim and Mauborgne educate that despite the fact that economic conditions indicate the rising imperative of blue oceans, there is a general belief that the odds of success are lower when companies venture beyond existing industry space. They add that the issue now is how to succeed in blue oceans, stressing that if one lacks understanding of the opportunity-maximising and risk-minimising principles driving the creation and capturing of blue oceans, the odds will be lengthened against one's blue ocean initiative.

Chapter two is based on the subject matter of analytical tools and frameworks. These authors say we have spent the past decade developing a set of analytical tools and frameworks in an attempt to make the formulation and execution of blue ocean strategy as systematic and actionable as competing in the red waters of known market space. Kim and Mauborgne stress that these analytics fill a central void in the field of strategy that has developed an impressive array of tools and frameworks to compete in red oceans, but has remained virtually silent on practical tools to excel in blue oceans. "Instead, executives have received calls to be brave and entrepreneurial, to learn from failure, and to seek out revolutionaries. Although thought-provoking, these are not substitutes for analytics to navigate successfully in blue waters," disclose these authors.

Kim and Mauborgne add that in the absence of analytics, executives cannot be expected to act on the call to break out of existing competition. They stress that effective blue ocean strategy should be about risk minimisation and not risk-taking. Part two is summarily tagged "Formulating blue ocean strategy" and covers four chapters, that is, chapters three to six. Chapter three is entitled "Reconstruct market boundaries". According to these experts here, the first principle of blue ocean strategy is to reconstruct market boundaries to break from the competition and create blue oceans. They say this principle addresses the search risk many companies struggle with. Kim and Mauborgne submit that the challenge is to successfully identify, out of the haystack of possibilities that exist, commercially-compelling blue ocean opportunities.

In chapters four to six, these authors discuss the concepts of focusing on the big picture, not the numbers; reaching beyond existing demand; and getting the strategic sequence right. Part three is generically christened "Executing blue ocean strategy" and contains three chapters. According to these authors in chapter seven entitled "Overcome key organisational hurdles", once a company has developed a blue ocean strategy with a profitable business model, it must execute it. They add that the challenge of execution exists, of course, for any strategy.

Kim and Mauborgne assert that companies, like individuals, often have a tough time translating thought into action whether in red or blue oceans. The authors say but compared with red ocean strategy, blue ocean strategy represents a significant departure from the status quo as it hinges on a shift from convergence in value curves at lower costs. They add that this raises the execution bar. In chapters eight and nine, Kim and Mauborgne analytically X-ray the concepts of building execution into strategy and the sustainability and renewal of blue ocean strategy.

Stylistically, the text is a success. For instance, the choice of words employed in this text is very comprehensible and the well-researched concepts, brilliantly articulated. The creativity of these authors is confirmed by the highly suggestive and visually communicative cover design reinforcing the major subject matter of blue ocean strategy. Kim and Mauborgne meticulously use graphics for the purpose of visually enhancing understanding of readers. The title of the text is metaphoric and appealing. Also worthy of note is the use of paradox in the text to tax readers mentally. For instance, these authors say companies must stop competing with each other, especially that the only way to beat competition is to stop trying to beat the competition, among other things.

However, some ideas seem repetitive in the text. Probably Kim and Mauborgne deliberately employ this style to create emphasis and reinforce readers' understanding. On the whole, the text is good for everybody and organisations that are prepared for enduring success through strategic knowledge of how to take extra steps to achieve business growth and profitability.

GOKE ILESANMI, Editor-in-Chief/CEO of http://www.gokeilesanmi.com/ and Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is a Certified Public Speaker/Emcee, (Business) Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker, Career Management Coach, Renowned Book Reviewer, Corporate Leadership Expert and Editorial Consultant.

Tel: +234(0)8055068773; +234(0)8056030424
Email: info@gokeilesanmi.com
gokeiles2010@gmail.com

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Essential Reading for 2011

At the start of each New Year, millions of Americans make millions of commitments to start or stop doing things, with the ultimate goal of improving their lives. In support of a successful 2011, I thought I would share several of my favorite self-improvement books, covering a broad array of topics. Enjoy!

General Business

Drive, by Daniel Pink, is an amazing book that explains what motivates us to do the things we do. Packed with both research and anecdotal examples, this book blows the cover off such popular motivational tactics as the "carrot and stick."

Influence, by Robert Cialdini, is a great companion book to Drive, as it explores tactics on how to influence others to do what we want them to do. The chapter on the "Law of Reciprocity" alone is worth the purchase!

Sales

Getting to Yes, by Roger Fisher and Robert Ury, is a tremendous book on a subject near and dear to anyone who sells for a living...negotiation. This book is packed with great ideas and tactics for improving negotiation skills and getting more deals done.

Free, by Chris Anderson, is another of those irreverent reads I love so much. This book takes a look at how giving things away for free can actually help you sell a lot more in the long run.

Self-Improvement

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, is possibly his best book yet. If you liked Blink and The Tipping Point, you will love this exploration into what makes people great. It isn't what you might think!

4 Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss, is another irreverent read that will change how you approach your job and life in general. Tim is one of my favorite authors, and this is an instant classic.

Weight Loss

4 Hour Body, by Tim Ferriss, is a great book about how to break some commonly held misconceptions about diets and work-out plans. Hot off the press, I highly recommend this one.

Body for Life, by Bill Phillips, is a classic by the founder of fitness giant EAS. It will put you on the path to good health and nutrition.

I love to read, and spend a ton of time in airports doing just that. All of the titles I have recommended are available for Kindle or other electronic readers, as well as in hard copy. I will post about more great books throughout the year, but the ones above will certainly be a great start to building a good "resolution reading list" for 2011.

Sales training programs are built upon the principles of positional selling, with a strong foundation of effective communication skills necessary to identify both your customer's needs and critical opportunities to meet those needs. It includes both the relational and functional sales skills required to communicate and influence customers to take positive action. By focusing on core positional selling techniques rather than a rehearsed "system" sales training equips sales professionals to apply their knowledge across the breadth of clients, organizations and markets.

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