Negotiation - give a range, not a fixed number

Source: http://qz.com/356612/you-are-almost-certainly-starting-salary-negotiations-wrong/

First, a range shapes expectations about an acceptable counteroffer. When there’s a number explicitly framed as a floor, people assume you’re unlikely to take something below it. They don’t necessarily make the same assumption with a single number.

Second, there’s the politeness effect. People are much less likely to go way below the bottom number of a range because they feel like it would be insulting. Similar qualms aren’t nearly as strong with single-point offers. And offering a range is generally seen as a sign of flexibility, even when the actual numbers are relatively high.

The researchers conducted a series of five experiments. In each case, a bolstering range led to better counteroffers, higher estimates of the lowest price someone would take, and a resolution—whereas starting with a single extremely high number had the negative effect of simply shutting down more negotiations or having them end in an impasse.
They also found that a bracketing range, where you put a floor below the number you really want and a ceiling above, doesn’t work nearly as well.

An experiment pitting two people negotiating over the sale of a used car found that a bolstering range led to an average counteroffer nearly $200 dollars higher than a single-point offer, and a higher-end settlement ($6,985 versus $6,776). Bolstering ranges also outperformed bracket ranges and extremely high, single-point offers.

But the bigger payday isn’t the only benefit of offering a bolstering range. People sometimes forget that it’s not all about money, that the relationship with a superior afterwards matters as well.

Across the experiments, people offering the higher range weren’t seen as any more aggressive or obnoxious than those who offered a single point, even though the high end of their range was a much larger amount. They were also seen as more flexible and confident.

So if you’re not making the first offer in a negotiation, consider doing so (the research on how that anchors negotiations is well established), and once you do, make it a bolstering range.


Psych study abstract re. 1st offers:
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2001 Oct;81(4):657-69.
First offers as anchors: the role of perspective-taking and negotiator focus.
Galinsky AD1, Mussweiler T.

Abstract
Three experiments explored the role of first offers, perspective-taking, and negotiator self-focus in determining distributive outcomes in a negotiation. Across 3 experiments, whichever party, the buyer or seller, made the 1st offer obtained a better outcome. In addition, 1st offers were a strong predictor of final settlement prices. However, when the negotiator who did not make a 1st offer focused on information that was inconsistent with the implications of the opponent's 1st offer, the advantageous effect of making the 1st offer was eliminated: Thinking about one's opponent's alternatives to the negotiation (Experiment 1), one's opponent's reservation price (Experiment 2), or one's own target (Experiment 3) all negated the effect of 1st offers on outcomes. These effects occurred for both face-to-face negotiations and E-mail negotiations. Implications for negotiations and perspective-taking are discussed.

A simple truth to leadership

Simply put, compassion makes the difference between understanding and caring. It’s the kind of love that a parent has for a child. Cultivating it more broadly means extending that to the other people in our lives and to people we encounter.

I think that in the workplace, that attitude has a hugely positive effect, whether it’s in how we relate to our peers or how we are as a leader, or how we relate to clients and customers. A positive disposition toward another person creates the kind of resonance that builds trust and loyalty and makes interactions harmonious. And the opposite of that — when you do nothing to show that you care — creates distrust, disharmony, and causes huge dysfunction at home and in business.

Source: https://hbr.org/2015/05/what-the-dalai-lama-taught-daniel-goleman-about-emotional-intelligence

Bosses and Leaders

You are an intern. Always

How to be successful in a corporate environment?

Act as if you are your boss' intern (ie. work you ass off to make his life easy, and learn everything you can). Always. Put yourself in that position, learn and grow like that.

Whether you are actually an intern, or a General Manager reporting to a board or a CEO.

Also: modesty and ambition. 

99% of Networking Is a Waste of Time

HBR article, by Greg McKeown. Original is here: https://hbr.org/2015/01/99-of-networking-is-a-waste-of-time

Building the right relationships — networking — is critical in business. It may be an overstatement to say that relationships are everything, but not a huge one. The people we spend time with largely determine the opportunities that are available to us. As venture capitalist and entrepreneur Rich Stromback told me in a series of interviews, “Opportunities do not float like clouds in the sky. They are attached to people.”

To say Stromback is a great networker is an understatement: he was introduced to me as “Mr.Davos” for good reason. He has spent the last ten years attending the Mecca of networking events  — held by the World Economic Forum every year in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The New York Times described him as the “unofficial expert on the Davos party scene.” Every year, he knows where the big events will be because he has so many people feeding him information, and he makes sure to be at the center of the action. Over time, this has turned into a surreal set of relationships. When a Middle East Prince was asked to meet with some Fortune 500 CEOs, he reached out to Stromback to attend and facilitate the meeting; when the Vatican was trying to negotiate a peace treaty of sorts they asked Stromback to help.

People also come to him because they feel they’re not getting enough value at Davos. “They chase for more and get less,” says Stromback, who finds the notion almost unimaginable. “The forum is the most influential community in the world. It’s the United Nations, G20, Fortune 500, Forbes List, tech disrupters and thought leaders all brought into one.”

Much of what he has learned from a decade at Davos flies in the face of generally-accepted networking advice. Below are snippets of my conversations with Stromback about his counterintuitive advice. Use it at Davos  — or any other networking event:

Don’t care about your first impression. “Everyone gets this wrong. They try to look right and sound right and end up being completely forgettable. I’m having a ball just being myself. I don’t wear suits or anything like that. I do not care about first impressions. I’d almost rather make a bad first impression and let people discover me over time than go for an immediate positive response. Curiously, research I read years ago suggests that you build a stronger bond over time with someone who doesn’t like you immediately compared to someone who does. Everything about Jack Nicholson is wrong, but all of the wrong together makes something very cool.”99 percent of any networking event is a waste of time. “99% of Davos is information or experience you can get elsewhere, on your own timeframe and in a more comfortable manner.  When I had my white badge access [an official pass to the conference center] — which I don’t bother with anymore — my friends would laugh because I never went to a session.  [But] that’s not where the highest value is. What you can’t get outside of Davos is the ability to have so many face-to-face interactions which either initiate or further key relationships.”

Sleep from 4-8PM every day. “I nap every day in Davos sometime between the hours of 4-8pm. It’s the most efficient time to catch up on sleep so I can be fresh when the time is opportune. The opportune moments happen while dancing at one of the nightcaps or at a chateau where only a select group of people is invited. The conversations there can go on until the early morning hours.”

The key to networking is to stop networking. “Nobody wants to have a ‘networking conversation,’ especially those who are at the highest levels of business and politics. They are hungry for real conversations and real relationships. It just has to be authentic, genuine and sincere. I don’t look at people’s badges to decide if they are worth my time. Davos is 3,000 influential people and I need to be selective, yet authentic  — focused, yet open to possibilities. In the end, I put myself in the most target-rich area and then just go with the flow and spend time with who I enjoy.

You’re not required to go to the big-name parties. “I maintain a broad and deep global network of C-level relationships without wining and dining face-to-face with people 90% of the time. But you need to know where people will be. For example, one year I told someone, “Don’t go to the Bill Gates party this year.” He asked me why? And I told him, “Because no one will be there.” He went and couldn’t believe I knew ahead of time. But I just knew the party was at the wrong time in the wrong location. It’s all about understanding where to be and when.”

Live in Detroit (or somewhere like it) the rest of the year. “Most people who are focused on building relationships at the highest levels live in London, New York City and Washington, D.C. They are immersed in the scene 24-7. I prefer to be disengaged 90% of the time. I live in Bloomfield Hills, in the Detroit area, and I don’t do anything social there. I love Detroit because no one comes to visit, and there are very few distractions. This is my escape for crucial family time. Being removed from the fray 90% of the time reduces a lot of drama.”

As Stromback  — a self-declared essentialist  — put it, “Davos is 99% distractions; you have to know what to avoid.” When asked how he would respond to the idea that most people don’t like networking because it’s time intensive and distracting from their “real work” he said, “The answer is to be extremely efficient and focus on what is truly essential.” This jibes with my own personal point of view on the world: Almost everything in life is worthless noise, and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. This is as true in networking as it is in almost every other area of life.

12 Things Great Employees Always Finish Before Noon

Original article is here.

So simple yet so powerful. I've been living by these rules for a while now and... it's basically a new (more enjoyable) life.

1. They make a work to-do list the day before.
2. They get a full night's rest.
3. They avoid hitting snooze.
4. They exercise.
5. They practice a morning ritual.
6. They eat breakfast.
7. They arrive at the office on time.
8. They check in with their boss and/or employees.
9. They tackle the big projects first.
10. They avoid morning meetings.
11. They allot time for following up on messages.
12. They take a mid-morning break.

An incredible crash course in corporate culture, management and HR.

Culture from Reed Hastings

This presentation has gone viral and created a huge amount of discussion on the web. Some love it, some hate it. I'm with the former. This is some of the most powerful business literature I have ever read.

The most interesting thing about it is that in my past experiences, I have sadly gone through counter examples to nearly all of these points. This further reinforces my conviction that this document is spot on.

Anyway, highly recommended reading. On my end, I will keep this presentation in my toolkit.

This years "life concepts" revelations

32 years. It will have taken me 32 years for these two specific "naivety barriers" to fall.

It's strange how through friends, collegues, books, movies, TV... you can hear about a concept your whole life, perfectly understand it, find it rational and yet you still do not apply it up until when you have been abused over and over so much that you reach a breaking point.

Snap.

Why? Why? Why?

Here's the first concept I will now live by. Always ask yourself why? Why, why, why?

For those of you that play Poker, I'll use this analogy: a good player will always ask himself why is his opponent betting so small on the flop, why is he checking the turn, why is he betting so small on the river, why did he take 1 minute to make up his mind?

Hence in life, never, ever, ever, take anything at face value when interracting with another human being, whether they are friends, family and especially if they are collegues / professional relations.

You get a phone call from an ex collegue out of the blue? Even if it's only small talk, ask yourself, why? You get invited to lunch by someone you havn't talked to in years? Why? Someone is keeping in regular contact with you even though you have little in commun, why? A friend you havn't talked to in months invites you to an event out of the blue? Why? A collegue who used to be a political threat to you is now kind and helpful? Why?

Never ever take anything at face value, always dig deeper to figure out what the real motives are. Everyone has an agenda, no matter how cliché this sounds.

It is a sad state of affairs when you need to question the motives of not only colleagues but friends and loved ones, but hey... maybe after a while it becomes second nature and makes it easier.

I now understand that true trust can only be built by asking "why" repeatedly and repeatedly getting a satisfying answer. How many why's does it take will depend on your level of paranoia, and I just upped mine by 300%.

Keep your cards close to the chest / never reveal information you do not have to

Here's a very simple one, that I have not lived by up until today.

Let's start with a poker analogy again: you just won a pot before showdown, do you show your hand? No.

Never ever ever disclose information if you do not have to or if you do not have a specific reason to do so.

Do not think for one second that disclosing information to someone will create / reinforce a potential trusting/friendship relationship between the both of you. Any cynical minded person, or worst, any conscious manipulator, will take that information in and see it as a free win. You are the sucker in this case. A manipulator may even shoot back some benign information to make you feel as if you are both exchanging on the same level, while he's actually sucking you dry.

The core of this concept is: being an open, direct and straightforward guy opens you up to manipulation.

Why should I reveal this information?
What can I gain from it?
What risks am I exposing myself to?
These are questions that I need to always be asking myself.

Both of these concepts basically boil down to trust, and what I only now discovered is that trust is not given then taken away if broken, trust is built slowly and surely from the grounds up... and even then it should be considered as fragile.

Richard St. John's 8 secrets of success | Video on TED.com

Richard St. John's 8 secrets of success | Video on TED.com

Non-measurable success factors

I've been having a great couple of weeks: deals were signed, new potential ones are moving forward, great constructive meetings were held... All is well.

In the mist of all this, I've been wondering what I can attribute this success to, as I sometimes have a hard time cleary identifying my "success factors" (beyond the great management and training I received in my early years).
Obviously there is a bit of luck involved (see my previous post), but it's not like I can tell my CEO "send me to negociate that deal, I'll do good 'cause I'm a lucky guy...".

So this morning driving to work I reflected on what could be my "non-measurable" success factors when contacting a potential partner, negociating a potential deal and following through in building a strong relationship. Well, I've identified the following 4, that I truly believe make the difference in early stages of business building.

Professionalism
Dress perfectly. Be on time. Follow up and follow through. Do what you say. De totally dependable.

Conveying Trust
Be transparent, clearly define your objectives, your motives. Be straightforward. People who know you are honnest and have integrity will be more at ease when working with you.

Conveying Expertise
Only if you actually have it (if not, dont fake it, you'll loose their trust).
Conveying expertise will reassure your potential partner. If you know what you're talking about, and most importantly, if you actually bring added value for your partner, this is a huge step in securing a good partnership.

Serenity
If your potential partner is reassured about the fact you are easy to work with (not to be mistaken with someone who can be walked on all over) and always keep your cool when analysing tough situations, well he'll be more inclined to work with you than your competitor who gets red in the face at each contract clause negociation...

So there you have it: conveying professionalism, trust, expertise and serenity. Ingredients for success in my opinion.

Hustle, Not Talent

by Lance Haun on June 10, 2010

I believe in hustle.

Hustle to me is a state of mind. It is a combination of working hard and working quickly. You make mistakes quicker, you make adjustments quicker and you have success quicker. Not only that but once you find success, you sustain that success through continuing the cycle.

Hustle doesn’t take a college degree or pedigree. You don’t have to be privileged to hustle. In fact, those with lesser talent, education or advantage can put hustle to better use and see a greater increase in results.


Lance sums up my work philosophy better than I ever will. Link to the article on his blog: Rehaul.com.
His blog's core focus is Human Resources, and the rest of his article gets quite technical for non RHers.

Aim High

Another great concept that I found on jeunerebeumillionaire.com's podcast.

Unless you set very high objectives, you will never achieve anything. Even though you may not reach these objectives, always always aim high.

Machiavelli in the Prince used a great metaphor which basically states that archers aim high to reach targets that would normally be out of reach.

" [...] prudent archers, who, seeing that the mark they plan to hit is too far away and knowing what space can be covered by the power of their bows, take an aim much higher than their mark, not in order to reach with their arrows so great a height, but to be able, with the aid of so high an aim, to attain their purpose." -- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

If you aim higher than what you believe you can do, you will end up higher. Aim for a CEO job, do everything it takes, and if you fail you will still have covered so much ground you'll be surprised.

"Shoot for the moon, if you miss it you will lay among the stars".

You need to be way more ambitious and audatious than your nature.
You will reach new levels in life that you never thought you would achieve.

Dee Hock on hiring

"Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second, motivation; third, capacity; fourth, understanding; fifth, knowledge; and last and least, experience. Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, experience is blind. Experience is easy to provide and quickly put to good use by people with all the other qualities."

French version:
“Recrute d’abord sur la base de l’intégrité de l’homme. Evalue ensuite sa motivation avant d’examiner ses compétences. Si ces trois critères sont pour toi satisfaisants, focalise toi sur sa faculté de compréhension. Le cinquième critère à analyser est l’étendue de son savoir et le dernier, son expérience. Sans intégrité, la motivation est dangeureuse. Sans motivation, les compétences sont inutiles. Sans compétences, la compréhension est limitée. Sans compréhension, le savoir n’a aucun sens. Sans savoir, l’expérience est aveugle”

KFC

This article, from the now closed jeunerebeumillionnaire.com blog, had a big impact on me these past years.
And because I'm in a good mood (or bored...), I will translate it in english.

KFC does not mean Kentucky Fried Chicken, at least not in my book.

KFC is the smartly found acronym by an anonymous blogger who summarized his success in three letters.

- How did you succeed?
- Thanks to KFC
- What…?
- KFC… "K" pour "Know what you want to do". Do your own introspection. Understand what are your deepest aspirations. What makes you tick. This is the first step. Then comes the "F". "find out what you're getting". Is what you are doing today on the roadmap to where you want to go and what you want? If this isnt the case, are these things that you do part of a long term plan? Example? I work as an analyst in for Accenture, but I do not like my job... but I need to hold on because I want to become a "partner". "C" means "Change what you're doing". IF after this evaluation of what you want you realize that what you do everyday is not aligned with your ambitions, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Quit your job, take a year of absence, write a book, go live in the amazon forest... I don't know... but CHANGE the course of what you are doing.

Once you're done. Repeat the process. Again… and again… and again.

Basic? Simplistic? I doubt it... really doubt it.

Personally, I think the hardest step is step K...
And ofc this can be applied to all parts of your life, not only your career.

MANAGE YOUR ENERGY, NOT YOUR TIME

Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy

"Time is a finite resource, but energy can be systematically expanded and renewed. Schwartz and McCarthy of the Energy Project describe how to establish rituals that will build energy in four key dimensions: the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. For instance, harnessing the body's ultradian rhythms by taking intermittent breaks restores physical energy. Rejecting the role of a victim and instead viewing events through three hopeful lenses defuses energy-draining negative emotions. Avoiding the constant distractions that technology has introduced increases mental energy. And participating in activities that give you a sense of meaning and purpose boosts the energy of the spirit. The new workday rituals succeed only if leaders support their adoption, but when that happens, the results can be powerful: individuals respond by bringing all their energy wholeheartedly to work -- and both companies and their people grow in value."

Highly recommended reading. Check out HBR.org.