“At the table moves”—including establishing rapport, connection, and relationships—include Hillary Clinton dealing with Vladimir Putin, artist Jeanne-Claude, who with her husband Christo, won over countless stakeholders to build their massive outdoor art installations, as well as former Secretary of State James Baker, and Disney CEO Bob Iger.  Protagonists whose “away from the table” moves to shape the underlying situation in their favor include former Colombian President Juan Santos dealing with a guerrilla group, Christiana Figueres quietly building powerful external support prior to the Paris climate negotiations, former Goldman Sachs managing partner Steve Friedman, and music industry super-lawyer John Branca hit with a surprise buy-sell demand from Sony—that held all the financial and legal cards. Production Details: I am deeply grateful to Harvard for giving me permission to use audio excerpts from interviews I’ve conducted over the years with various Great Negotiator honorees and U.S. Secretaries of State, often with colleagues and friends such as Robert Mnookin of Harvard Law School and R. Nicholas Burns, formerly of Harvard’s Kennedy School.   Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Dealcraft: Insights from Great Negotiators

Negotiating At and Away from the Table

In this second Dealcraft episode, six remarkable women and men discuss how they dealt with critical moments in their most challenging business and public sector negotiations. After each example, I’ll suggest insights that will help you handle critical moments in your toughest deals. Here’s who you’ll meet:   Charlene Barshefsky, elite private sector lawyer and former US special trade representative, dealing with a threatening ultimatum in China; Rex Tillerson, who headed ExxonMobil and served as the U.S. Secretary of State, earlier in his career facing a key moment in a middle eastern business deal, when the other side began to hurl insults and tear up two years of progress; Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman responding to a make-or-break negotiating impasse with a Japanese company when Blackstone was still a fragile startup; An English property developer facing apparently extortionate demands by the owner of the final, must-have parcel; How Henry Kissinger, when secretly negotiating with Zhou Enlai, finally cracked the killer issue that for years had blocked any relationship between the U.S. and China; and Christiana Figueres, Costa Rican diplomat and the key UN figure in the 2015 Paris climate negotiations, persuading the very reluctant Saudis to come on board.   About Jim Sebenius   A systematic approach to handling challenging negotiations is in the book I wrote with David Lax, 3D Negotiation. More about my background is here plus information about the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School—a consortium of Harvard, MIT, and Tufts—and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Contact me here.   Resources Mentioned in Episode 2   Many of my academic colleagues have written excellent papers on various aspects of critical moments in negotiation.  You can find many of these articles in two special issues of the Negotiation Journal devoted to this topic.  The first of these issues is in Vol. 20, No. 2 (April 2004).  In this issue, among many excellent pieces, I especially like the introduction:  Carrie Menkel-Meadow; Critical Moments in Negotiation: Implications for Research, Pedagogy, and Practice. Negotiation Journal 2004; 20 (2): 341–347, as well as this article: Gillian M. Green, Michael Wheeler; Awareness and Action in Critical Moments. Negotiation Journal 2004; 20 (2): 349–364.     In the second issue of the Negotiation Journal devoted to critical moments, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Spring 2020), I refer you especially to the introduction: Daniel Druckman and Joel Cutcher‐Gershenfeld; Introduction to Special Issue: Critical Moments in Negotiation II. Negotiation Journal 2020; 36 (2): 85–90.  I also like  the piece by Lawrence Susskind; Ten Propositions Regarding Critical Moments in Negotiation. Negotiation Journal 2004; 20 (2): 339–340.   Acknowledgements   I am deeply grateful to Harvard for giving me permission to use audio excerpts from interviews I’ve conducted over the years with various Great Negotiator honorees and U.S. Secretaries of State, often with colleagues and friends such as Robert Mnookin of Harvard Law School and R. Nicholas Burns, formerly of Harvard’s Kennedy School.   Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Critical Moments in Negotiation

The most viewed music video of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, was almost destroyed before it was released except for some almost unbelievable negotiations by music industry super-lawyer, John Branca, over 30 of whose clients have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame—ranging from Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones to Michael Jackson and Dr Dre. Incidentally, this episode reveals how Branca was able to negotiate for Jackson the ownership of his master recordings, an almost unprecedented feat at the time. For educators and negotiation fans looking to take a deep dive into John Branca's negotiations, check out the Harvard Business School case studies written by Jim Sebenius below: Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "Negotiating in a Hurricane: John Branca and the Michael Jackson Estate." Harvard Business School Case 924-026, July 2024. View Details Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "John Branca: Negotiating the Beatles' Northern Songs Catalog (A)." Harvard Business School Case 921-009, October 2020. View Details Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "John Branca: Negotiating the Beatles' Northern Songs Catalog (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 921-010, October 2020. View Details Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "John Branca: Negotiating Michael Jackson's Thriller (A)." Harvard Business School Case 920-027, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "John Branca: Negotiating Michael Jackson’s Thriller (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 920-036, January 2020. View Details About Jim Sebenius   A systematic approach to handling challenging negotiations is in the book I wrote with David Lax, 3D Negotiation. More about my background is here plus information about the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School—a consortium of Harvard, MIT, and Tufts—and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Contact me here. Acknowledgements   I am deeply grateful to Harvard for giving me permission to use audio excerpts from interviews I’ve conducted over the years with various Great Negotiator honorees and U.S. Secretaries of State, often with colleagues and friends such as Robert Mnookin of Harvard Law School and R. Nicholas Burns, formerly of Harvard’s Kennedy School.   Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

John Branca I: Negotiating Michael Jackson’s Thriller

Season 1 Trailer: From Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, to trade agreements with China, pivotal Blackstone deals, and the peaceful end of apartheid in South Africa, landmark agreements are often spearheaded by savvy negotiators who employ winning strategies and tactics. Beginning September 9, join world-renowned negotiation expert and Harvard Business School professor Jim Sebenius as he explores fascinating stories from remarkable negotiators and distills practical insights that listeners can apply in their toughest deals and disputes.

Introducing Dealcraft: Insights from Great Negotiators

With an ear for memorable deal stories, Harvard Business School professor and renowned negotiation expert Jim Sebenius interviews many of the world’s greatest dealmakers and diplomats about their most challenging negotiations. From each episode, Jim extracts useful insights and lessons to help listeners with their toughest deals and disputes.

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Dealcraft: Insights from Great Negotiators

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