Book Review: Subject - Entrepreneurial Skills Development

Title: Negotiate This! - By Caring, But Not That Much
Author: Herb Cohen
Publisher Warner Books Inc.
ISBN: 0-446-52973-7

Herb Cohen is a hoot. I've just finished reading his most recent book, Negotiate This! - By Caring, But Not That Much, and if his live presentation style is anything like his writing style, then sign me up. I'll put him at the top of my "must see" list.

Cohen's newest book is an absolute gem. It's entertaining, informative and insightful. Cohen believes that life is a series of negotiations and that there isn't much that can't be negotiated. "Fundamentally, what negotiating is all about is voluntary decision-making. Unlike the great growth industry of our time-litigation-negotiating, in the final analysis, requires two parties to say "yes." The difficulty, however, is that at least one of these entities starts out by saying "no", or at best they are not sure or profess reluctance to say "yes. So your basic task as a negotiator is to help move someone from "no" to "yes" or from reluctance to commitment."

Is Cohen's book for everyone? Absolutely! Especially for managers, supervisors and team leaders. Customer service representatives and sales people will also benefit from reading this book. As the author points out: "If you want to impact favourably on the other side's decision-making, you've got to be other-directed, understanding their values, beliefs, experience, and mind-set." It's always best to take a consultative approach. It's Maslow's Rule Number Two with a bullet. The more you can make it about them, the more predisposed they will be to coming along.

Here are some of my favourite "prominent points" taken from Negotiate This! - By Caring, But Not That Much:

• If you're a seller of products, services, ideas, or proposals, generate competition for what you have.
• As a buyer or consumer, realize that vendors know that money talks and sometimes walks. The only thing it doesn't say is when or if it's coming back.
• Develop a reputation as someone who is willing to risk and even incur loss for the sake of core values and principles (qualities sorely lacking in our leadership today).
• To positively affect the behaviour of your counterparts, start out by telling them what they would like to hear and then express your ideas simply, using examples from their experience. (Demonstrate Maslow's Rule Number Two.)
• The best way to deal with a direct threat is to ignore it, play dumb, claim a lack of authority, or just laugh it off.
• Watching the process unfold, develop the gaming spirit of caring, but not t-h-a-t much, by lightening up and giggling more.

Read the book and put together your own list of Cohen's "prominent points" and then go out and negotiate something on your terms by caring, but not t-h-a-t much. "By changing your behaviour you can very often alter the way the other side reacts or responds."