Don't Ignore Emotions!

Don’t ignore emotions - Emotions are an integral part of the human experience!

Think about the last time you approached a negotiation. What were some of the feelings you had? Hope, Fear, Enthusiasm, Trepidation, Indifferent, Empathetic? Most likely these and many more especially during the course of a drawn out and complicated negotiation. Simply approaching problems from logical frameworks and rational perspectives is not enough. Certainly, you should continue to apply your cognitive skills to both the preparation and implementation of your Negotiation Strategy, but failing to take into account the emotional component of a given Negotiation will leave a gaping hole in your strategy and may cause you to miss out on possible points of leverage that may only exist because of their emotional component.

In addition to the needs being addressed directly by the negotiation you are engaging in, people have emotional needs that they are consciously or unconsciously striving to meet such as status, notoriety and belonging.

In their book, Negotiation Genius, Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman devote several insightful chapters to the opportunities and pitfalls of leveraging emotions while Negotiating.

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