Insights

An ancient text on warfare contains three aphorisms that over two thousand years later can help a modern negotiator overcome some common pitfalls. Expect practical wisdom on managing up, first proposals and the value of investing effort into truly knowing your counterparty.

Identifying stakeholders in a negotiation may appear to be one of the more straightforward aspects to crafting a deal. But the reality is often more complex, making the design and mapping of a stakeholder engagement, alignment and management process critical to success.

A special feature in The Times newspaper's "The Future CEO" supplement reports that when business strategy execution goes wrong, it's likely that the negotiations that underpinned it were suboptimal.

With the ever-increasing rise of purpose-driven brands and organizations putting a spotlight on the ethics of business, where does this leave negotiation? Can a laser-like focus on optimizing value coexist with an ethical approach, and if so, how?

The latest edition of The Negotiation Society magazine is themed around change and is packed with thought-provoking articles examining its commercial and human impact. With our backdrop the extraordinary global landscape that has emerged post-pandemic, it offers up diverse and expert perspectives on how we can adapt to and even profit from times of profound change.

The ability to make fast decisions is an essential trait of effective leaders - even more so in times of crisis where course corrects or new strategies are required at speed. Graham Botwright explains the importance of fast decisions, and what is needed to achieve them.

The businesses that are coming out of the crisis truly leading the market are those who have both responded to the short-term challenges and opportunities, and put in place a robust infrastructure to serve the long term, setting up for growth in the upturn that will follow.

The fourth in Graham Botwright's "Covid Recovery" films explores the qualities that effective leaders in times of crisis personify, and explains how they can be cultivated.

The third in Graham Botwright's "Covid Recovery" films investigates the compelling commercial concept of "total value thinking": what it is, how to cultivate it, and what the results will be if you do.