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Tag: communication-skills

Published by Be Better November 26th, 2020

The Bartering Mindset

The monetary mind-set leads to a narrow-minded approach to negotiation.

When you come to the negotiation table with the monetary mind-set, you bring a set of assumptions with you. For one, you see yourself as one side of a conflict between parties with opposing objectives. You also assume that a better deal for one party inherently means a worse deal for the other. In most cases, this leads buyer and seller to seek a compromise, which helps avoid conflict but also means each party takes a smaller slice from a smaller pie.

28 August, 2019 08:53 Share

But what if we didn’t have to compromise when we negotiated? That’s where integrative behavior comes in. Integrative behavior aims to appease opposing parties’ mutual interests by using strategies such as trust building or information exchange. Using integrative behavior, we can widen the scope of our negotiations so that each party gets more rather than both parties meeting in the middle.

28 August, 2019 08:54 Share

We can observe the bartering mind-set in an idealized bartering economy.

Most of the time, Keith’s crops and produce meet the needs of his family’s modest lifestyle. However, when his daughter sprains her ankle, he needs to find a way to trade what he has in exchange for medical attention. So he heads to the market in a nearby town with a wagon full of goods to trade. Because Keith has to sell his goods in order to meet his needs, he implicitly sees himself as both a buyer and a seller. Experience has also taught him that doctors aren’t usually interested in his produce. So in order to get help for his daughter, he first has to trade his corn for iron, which doctors use for their medical instruments. In other words, Keith knows that he has to engage with many different people. But before he approaches anyone, he needs to get a feel for the market as a whole. That’s because he knows that everyone in it has a multitude of possible needs and offerings. Since he can only get a good deal if his trading partners get one as well, he has to be creative in identifying the most beneficial trading relationships. For example, an ironmonger might be willing to trade for less corn if a few eggs are included in the deal. With a broad understanding of the market, Keith is then ready to approach people. With his trading partners’ needs in mind, he’s able to talk to them, trusting them enough to state his needs and offerings and ask for theirs. By establishing trust, he won’t come off as dishonest if he decides that the terms of the deal won’t suffice.

28 August, 2019 08:56 Share

Like a person with a monetary mind-set, a barterer comes to a negotiation with a set of assumptions. To understand these, imagine a farmer who lives with his family on a prairie; let’s call him Keith.

28 August, 2019 08:57 Share

The first step a negotiator with a bartering mind-set takes is to define needs and offerings.

Once you’ve determined the answer, you can define the breadth of your needs by thinking about everything else you might require in order to meet that fundamental need. If you need the money for commuting costs, a raise might be just one route to solving the problem. You might need to buy a more fuel-efficient car or get a Costco membership to save on gas prices.

28 August, 2019 08:58 Share

First, you’ll want to take a look at what value you’re already providing to your negotiation partners. If this means your boss, make a list of the ways you bring value to the company. For example, perhaps you regularly hand in pristine reports thanks to your sharp analytical skills.

28 August, 2019 09:00 Share

Finally, you’ll want to take a look at what you potentially have to offer. Say your boss has been complaining about traveling so often. Could you offer to take on some of the projects that require him to travel? Or maybe there are others who would benefit from your skills – a contact in another department seeking to fill a position in which you would excel, for example.

28 August, 2019 09:01 Share

Define the full spectrum of your transaction partners and identify their potential needs and offerings.

That brings us to the second step: defining the full spectrum of your potential transaction partners. Here, once again, you’ll want to get creative to widen the scope of your possibilities.

28 August, 2019 09:02 Share

Once you’ve done the creative work of considering the full range of your prospective partners, the third step in cultivating the bartering mind-set is to map out their potential needs and offerings. In fact, you’ve already started to do this by thinking about what you have to offer. For example, in step one you established how bringing pastries to the local community establishes your café’s value. You could also easily figure out that your landlord wants timely rent, your customers want bottomless cups of coffee and your local movie theater might need referrals.

28 August, 2019 09:02 Share

Identify power partnerships by assessing relationships and the costs and benefits of trades.

There are three stages to predicting the power of relationships. The first stage is translating the needs and offerings that you’ve mapped out into specific trades. You can do this by making a chart, noting in one column how a partner will fulfill your needs with their offerings and in a second column how you could fulfill their needs with your offerings. So in the first column, you might note the possibility of increasing revenue by advertising before movies at the local theater. Then, in the second, note that your café could distribute fliers featuring the theater’s current program.

28 August, 2019 09:03 Share

In identifying the partners who will be most beneficial and affordable for you, you already have a head start on the third stage: assessing the holistic picture you’ve just created. Though there is no mathematical formula here, the best way to assess the information you have is to separate your partnerships into four categories: high benefit/low cost; high benefit/high cost; low benefit/low cost; and low benefit/high cost.

28 August, 2019 09:04 Share

if your café is branching out into a new partnership by advertising your shop and thus attracting new customers, local artists might be more interested in exhibiting their work with you in order to gain exposure. You might consider reaching out to them as well.

28 August, 2019 09:05 Share

Step five in cultivating a bartering mind-set is to seek out the most powerful potential partnerships.

But before you start making any offers, remember that at this point you’re not trying to secure a deal or even necessarily pave a path for one. Instead, you’re trying to uncover information in order to understand your partners and the market as a whole.

28 August, 2019 09:05 Share

You can do this using a five-step process: introducing yourself, bringing up your needs, meeting the other party’s needs, meeting your needs and concluding.

28 August, 2019 09:05 Share

You should then politely ask to talk about your needs once more, then elaborate on your ideas, framing your questions in terms of a potential trade. You could suggest something like providing him with pastries and printing coupons for his store on your café’s receipts, and ask if he would then consider advertising your café in the window of his store in return.

28 August, 2019 09:06 Share

Bridge the bartering mind-set with the monetary mind-set by using Multi-Issue Offers (MIOs).

Instead, integrate the bartering and monetary mind-sets smoothly; the simplest way to do this is with a multi-issue offer (MIO). Unlike single-issue offers (SIOs), in which you propose one issue at a time, MIOs address all negotiable issues at once. In your negotiation with the grocer, for example, the pastries, window signage and coupons would all be presented together in a single offer. Here’s what that offer might look like: In one column of your offer, you propose to deliver 500 pastries daily to the grocer, and print coupons for his business on your café’s receipts. In the next column, you state that in return, the grocer will give you $0.50 per pastry and a $500 monthly printing fee for the coupons, as well as hanging a sign for your café in his largest window.

28 August, 2019 09:07 Share

And if the grocer plays hardball and won’t accept an agreement that meets your needs? Well, because you incorporated a bartering mind-set into your discussion, you can walk away from the deal with the relationship healthy and intact. You’re then free to fall back on any of your four other potential partnerships, creating mutually beneficial arrangements that keep your business afloat while strengthening the relationships in your network.

28 August, 2019 09:08 Share

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blinkist communication-skills
Published by Be Better November 26th, 2020

Never Split the Difference

Negotiation occurs in every aspect of life – and there’s more to it than rationality and intellect.

t’s more than just mathematical logic and a keen intellect. That’s because humans aren’t always rational; they often fail to act on the basis of logic or reason. To make matters more complicated, humans aren’t always predictable either. People often act based on their animal nature, which is irrational, spontaneous and a bit wild.

13 October, 2019 08:42 Share

Successful negotiation is about building trust and getting information.

Looking back on the situation, the author realizes that the robber only spread this misinformation to confuse the author and his colleagues, buying himself time to plot his escape.

13 October, 2019 08:40 Share

Closely listening to and even repeating what your counterpart says can build trust.

The first is called mirroring, which essentially means repeating what your counterpart says but with an inquisitive tone. Just consider the Manhattan bank robbery negotiation from the previous blink. The robber in that situation, Chris Watts, made continual demands for a vehicle. He mentioned that his own car was gone as his driver had fled.

13 October, 2019 08:43 Share

Largely because it makes the other person feel that you’re similar to him. After all, your counterpart is only human and will naturally be drawn to similarities. That’s because, just like other animals, people like to be in groups with similar traits. Doing so gives us a sense of belonging and forges trust. This is powerful in a negotiation: when your counterpart starts to trust you, he will become more likely to talk and find a solution.

13 October, 2019 08:43 Share

One group of waiters was asked to use mirroring while the other was asked to utilize positive reinforcement through phrases like "no problem" and "great." In the end, the waiters who mirrored the orders made by customers received much higher tips, earning 70 per cent more than the other group.

13 October, 2019 08:44 Share

The tone of your voice can do wonders for negotiation.

For instance, if the other party is likely to become upset or nervous, you should employ a deep but soft voice, or what the author has called your Late-Night FM DJ voice. By being slow and reassuring, this tone is sure to have a profound effect on the other person.

13 October, 2019 08:44 Share

After all, it’ll comfort him, making him more likely to share the information you’re looking for. At a certain point during the bank robbery negotiation, the author had to take over communication with the robber from his colleague, Joe. To prevent Watts from growing upset or nervous due to the shift, the author told him in a deep, calm voice that Joe was out and he was in. It was put forward in such a downward-inflecting manner, radiating calmness and reason, that Watts didn’t even flinch.

13 October, 2019 08:44 Share

While on vacation in Istanbul, a colleague of the author’s was amazed by his girlfriend’s ability to cut great deals with backstreet spice merchants. He soon realized that she always pushed for better prices, but did so in a playful, positive way. While the merchants were themselves skilled bargainers, her approach drew them in, convincing them to give her a better deal. Try this yourself, when you’re at a store or market!

13 October, 2019 08:45 Share

Understand and state the emotions of your counterpart to position yourself effectively in a negotiation.

Rather than ignoring emotions, you have to combine them with empathy to your tactical advantage. However, being empathetic doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing with the other person. It just means attempting to see his perspective. This is where tactical empathy comes into play; it refers to using your understanding of your counterpart’s perspective to better position yourself in the negotiation.One technique to do so is called labeling. It simply refers to telling your counterpart that you understand and acknowledge both his position and feelings.

13 October, 2019 08:45 Share

Lieberman showed participants pictures of people expressing a strong emotion, thereby activating their amygdalas, the brain area responsible for fear. However, when the same participants were asked to state what emotions they saw, their brains experienced activity in the areas related to rational thinking.

13 October, 2019 08:46 Share

The author figured out what they were feeling and then labeled those feelings; he told them that he knew they didn’t want to leave the apartment, that they were worried that if they opened the door, they would be shot and that they must be scared of going back to prison.After six hours of dead silence, the fugitives surrendered and later told the author that he had calmed them down. In other words, his labeling had worked. He simply understood and acknowledged their emotions, reaching a favorable outcome in the process.

13 October, 2019 08:46 Share

Don’t accept the other party’s demands, don’t compromise, and don’t rush.

Have you ever been in such a hurry to settle a dispute that you ended up unhappy with the final result? Nobody wants that, and it’s crucial to remember that accepting a bad deal or even compromising is always a mistake. This is called splitting the difference, and you’ve got to avoid it at all costs.

13 October, 2019 08:47 Share

For the same reason, it’s essential to take your time, even when your counterpart sets deadlines. Remember, your job is to learn about the other party and, if you’re pressed for time, chances are your judgment will be clouded. It’s important that you avoid this. It can help to remember that most deadlines are flexible and relatively random.

13 October, 2019 08:47 Share

Final summary

In one respect, negotiation is just like war: it’s crucial to know your enemy. That’s why you should always let your counterpart make the first offer. That being said, you should also be prepared for this initial offer to be extreme. In fact, it’s entirely normal for first offers to be far afield of your expectations. Just keep in mind that this only represents the limit for your counterpart and you can almost certainly get a much better deal.

13 October, 2019 08:48 Share

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blinkist communication-skills management-leadership career-success
Published by Be Better November 26th, 2020

10 Days to Faster Reading

People put too much pressure on themselves when they read.

. If you want to retain the information for the future, you’ll need to create an easy retrieval system.

23 December, 2018 23:54 Share

Try writing down the crucial information (electronically or on paper), or make highlights and notes in the margins

23 December, 2018 23:54 Share

Try writing down the crucial information (electronically or on paper), or make highlights and notes in the margins. Then, simply file the materials away. This way you can find the information easily, and it will also take away the pressure of memorizing everything.

23 December, 2018 23:54 Share

Becoming a more efficient reader is as easy as kicking a few bad habits.

Normally, the brain can process up to 400 words per minute, but when we read at "talking speed," we only read about 150 words per minute. So if you simply stop subvocalizing, you’ll be able to process more than twice as many words per minute!

23 December, 2018 23:55 Share

You can read faster by taking shortcuts.

First, have a clear purpose in mind and a sense of responsibility for what you read.

23 December, 2018 23:55 Share

"Why do I need this information?

23 December, 2018 23:56 Share

But if your child already has good grades, do you really need to read over their work every day?

23 December, 2018 23:56 Share

reading first the first few introductory paragraphs to get an idea of where the intro is heading

23 December, 2018 23:56 Share

read the subheadings, titles and subtitles that are usually larger and bolded

23 December, 2018 23:56 Share

Pre-viewing provides you with background information, and thus helps you read and comprehend the text faster while reducing the tendency to reread.

23 December, 2018 23:57 Share

To speed up your reading, try only reading the keywords.

focusing only on important words and skipping over the rest.

23 December, 2018 23:58 Share

stop your eyes on thought groups instead of separate words.

23 December, 2018 23:58 Share

Comprehending the whole phrase at each stop will require you to use your peripheral vision.

23 December, 2018 23:59 Share

The more you exercise your eye muscles, the better.

23 December, 2018 23:59 Share

Other techniques you should try are "reading between the lines" and "indenting."

focus on the white space just above each line.

24 December, 2018 00:03 Share

half an inch inside the left margin

24 December, 2018 00:03 Share

reading half an inch before the right margin

24 December, 2018 00:03 Share

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blinkist communication-skills productivity
Published by Be Better May 25th, 2020

Crucial Conversations

What’s in it for me? Learn how to broach sensitive topics without stepping on a landmine.

We’ve all been there: You’re trying to have a rational conversation about something important, and all of a sudden things turn sour. You see your conversation partner turn red in the face and you feel like you just can’t get a word in. You, too, are getting flush with anger, and are eventually yelling so loud you can’t even hear your phone ring. How is it that two otherwise rational, agreeable people can enter a shouting match even when they both have the same goals?

25 May, 2020 05:40 Share

In these blinks, you’ll learn: how to have a productive talk with your teenage daughter without getting a door slammed in your face, how to deliver criticism without hurting people’s feelings, why people might not speak up when a surgeon is about to amputate the wrong foot, why one entrepreneur’s dream of a steam-powered car might have ended up boiling people alive and how to finally talk to your partner about problems that have been bothering you for years.

25 May, 2020 05:41 Share

Crucial conversations provoke an over-emotional and irrational response.

Have you ever tried to have a conversation with your partner and realized that what you were actually having was an argument? Probably! These are often crucial conversations, characterized by high tension and high emotions, and an inability to effectively manage them can lead us into trouble. For one thing, it’s difficult to think rationally when confronted with such a conversation. Part of this has to do with the rush of adrenaline released when emotions run high in order to heighten our senses. The body can’t tell the difference between a heated discussion and true danger, so it prepares itself for a sudden fight or flight. This split-second decision making, however, comes at the expense of clear and rational thinking.

25 May, 2020 05:41 Share

There are many reasons to want to master crucial conversations, as those who do can better succeed in their private and public lives. For example, according to surveys of more than 20,000 people in various companies, those who mastered crucial conversations are better able to tackle challenges and thus often become the opinion leaders in their organizations. In addition, couples who can handle such conversations are more likely to stay together. In fact, they can reduce their chances of a breakup by up to 50 percent!

25 May, 2020 05:43 Share

The best solutions only arise when people freely share information in crucial conversations.

When we feel we’re approaching a controversial topic in a crucial conversation, we’re often afraid to share our ideas or criticisms because we don’t want to hurt the other person’s feelings. As we’ll see, this is totally backwards. Since a successful conversation depends upon the participants providing information and sharing knowledge, sharing information actually leads to smarter decisions. Even the smartest people are more prone to making mistakes when they don’t have all the necessary information available to them.

25 May, 2020 05:43 Share

a surgeon once tasked with amputating a man’s foot removed the healthy foot by mistake. What’s worse, the other medical professionals in the room simply stood by in silence – even though they knew full well that the doctor was making a mistake! Why? Because they were simply too intimidated of his high stature to share this crucial information.

25 May, 2020 05:44 Share

Furthermore, people are more likely to fully commit to solutions resulting from an open dialogue where ideas and information are freely shared. When we can see how a solution has been distilled from the available ideas, we’re more likely to be convinced that it’s the best solution. Conversely, we tend to resist decisions made without our consultation. In fact, we’re more likely to commit to ideas that we don’t agree with as long as we can participate in the discussion.

25 May, 2020 05:45 Share

you’d be more likely to try your hardest to make the plan succeed in spite of your doubts because you participated in the decision-making process. If, however, your captain had simply given you a command with no consultation, you probably wouldn’t give it 100 percent.

25 May, 2020 05:46 Share

Stay focused on your goals in a crucial conversation to prevent becoming overly emotional.

Think about the last time someone heavily criticized your ideas. Did you placidly accept their criticism and work towards a solution? Doubtful! You may have even gotten angry and stormed out of the room. However, this isn’t the most helpful way to end a conversation; what could you have done differently? Whenever you’re "attacked" by opposing ideas, the first thing you must do is take a moment to highlight your goals; if you become angry, your conversation probably won’t end with a solution.

25 May, 2020 05:46 Share

Ask yourself questions like: What is my aim here? What information do I want to ensure I clearly articulate to my conversational partner? After having identified what you really want from the conversation, you can shift your focus to identifying what you really don’t want. In other words, what is the one thing you really want to avoid in a conversation? You’re liable to want to avoid walking away from it empty-handed ‒ otherwise you wouldn’t be engaging in a dialogue to begin with!

25 May, 2020 05:47 Share

if you want to tell your partner something that might upset them, think: What do I actually want? What do I want to avoid? This simple exercise can help you rationally convey information and keep everyone calm, thus allowing you to say what needs to be said without risking a flying vase to the face.

25 May, 2020 05:48 Share

People are more likely to behave aggressively in conversations where they don’t feel "safe."

A rational conversation about even the most banal subject can quickly degenerate into a heated argument, and can’t be salvaged no matter what you do or say. How does that happen? Often, it comes down to the atmosphere: when it’s safe, i.e., when people don’t feel like they’re in danger of being attacked, you can talk about literally anything, including critical or highly controversial issues. However, once people start feeling like they’re being unfairly criticized, they tend to clam up and their emotions start to take over. The fear of being attacked causes the release of adrenaline, which, as we learned earlier, hinders rational thinking.

25 May, 2020 05:49 Share

Thankfully, people display telltale signs of aggression when they’re feeling unsafe in a conversation. In fact, these behaviors can typically be broken down into two categories: silent and violent. You can identify a silent reaction when people start to deliberately hide their opinions in a conversation. A good example of this is sarcasm, in which an opinion is deliberately (and obviously) hidden. For instance, someone might tell you, "Wow, what a flattering shirt! No one will ever think that it’s three sizes too small for you!" A violent reaction, on the other hand, is one where people try to force their opinion onto their conversation partners. If you’ve ever been in a conversation with someone who just won’t let others speak, constantly interrupting them and cutting them off mid-sentence, then you’ve witnessed a violent reaction.

25 May, 2020 05:50 Share

Create safe conversations by ensuring that people feel like you respect them and their interests.

We’ve seen how an otherwise rational conversation can quickly derail once people feel threatened. So what steps can we take to keep the atmosphere in a conversation safe? A safe atmosphere hinges on these two key conditions: a feeling of mutual respect and a common purpose.

26 May, 2020 05:25 Share

Mutual respect is the absolute pre-condition for a successful conversation: if people don’t feel like you respect and value them, their behavior can quickly devolve into acts of aggression, such as shouting and attempts at dominating others. You can avoid making people feel disrespected by carefully managing how you address them. One way to do this is through contrasting, i.e., juxtaposing criticism with praise.

26 May, 2020 05:26 Share

For example, if you’re talking to an employee about his unpunctuality, stress that you’re happy with the quality of his work, and that the only problem is that he doesn’t get to work on time. This approach will make him feel much more respected as an individual, and less likely to react emotionally.

26 May, 2020 05:26 Share

conversation participants need to feel like they’re all striving towards a common solution, where their own interests and goals are taken into consideration. If, however, your common solution isn’t immediately clear, then you’ll have to create one. Imagine, for example, that you’ve been offered a career-defining promotion, but you and your family would have to relocate, which you know your partner doesn’t want. You and your partner might not have a common purpose initially: you want the promotion and your partner doesn’t want to move. In this case, invent a more general, longer-term purpose that you both share. Focus, for example, on the needs of your family over career or location. This approach ensures that there is common ground upon which a mutual agreement can be found, regardless of the outcome: you might even pass on the promotion in order to find a better job in the area, thus ensuring that everyone’s needs are met!

26 May, 2020 05:28 Share

Manage your emotions by ensuring that you’ve gotten the facts straight before you interpret.

Surely you’ve been there before: you’re having a normal conversation when, suddenly, one ill-chosen word from a certain person in a certain situation makes you lose it – even though they never would have intended to make you angry. Reactions like these are the result of an incorrect interpretation of the situation, when what you think deviates from the actual facts. In order to reach a solution, you must learn how to overcome this hurdle. One easy way to do this is to ask yourself whether you’re misinterpreting someone’s words whenever you start to feel your emotions flare up. And be sure to separate your explanation from your emotional response so you can stay level-headed. For example, if you see someone staring at you, you might think that they’re being rude and you start getting red with anger. Take a moment to objectively reexamine the facts: Is he actually staring? Is he even looking at you at all? Are you sure he isn’t looking at something behind you?

26 May, 2020 05:29 Share

Only after you’ve sorted out the facts can you find an interpretation that leads to a dialogue instead of a shouting match. Imagine you and a colleague are having a project meeting with your boss, and he stays behind and continues the meeting while you step out for a break. Your immediate interpretation might be that your coworker is trying to take credit for the work, and you react emotionally. But when you examine the facts, you realize that the reason they continued with the meeting is that they were simply passionate about the project and didn’t realize that you were, too! Knowing this, you can re-interpret their actions more accurately, and thus have a better chance at finding a solution. For instance, you could arrange a meeting with them to discuss your own interest in the project in order to develop better working practices.

26 May, 2020 05:30 Share

Make others feel safe in a conversation by creating an atmosphere where they feel their opinions are valued.

As we’ve already learned, the best way to get people to participate in a conversation is to help them feel safe. You can often accomplish this by creating an atmosphere where they feel their opinions matter. Start by showing your conversation partner that you care about what’s making them unhappy. Ask them about their motives and, where necessary, confront them on their behavior.

26 May, 2020 05:31 Share

Sometimes, however, you might be in a position where you disagree with what your conversation partner tells you. For example, your teenage daughter might say something like: "I’m a wretched person! No one likes me!" In these cases, it’s important to stay focused on understanding her, rather than challenging her beliefs. This will prevent her from feeling threatened, and thus be more likely to continue with the discussion.

26 May, 2020 05:32 Share

Choose an appropriate way of decision-making and a clear division of responsibilities to put a conversation into action.

So after following the advice in these blinks, you’re finding that your conversations are calm and rational, and everyone feels safe and valued. But this alone doesn’t guarantee that you’ll reach the best solution, or that the decision you make will be carried out effectively. The final step in managing crucial conversations is their resolution. The best way to ensure the optimal solution of a conversation is to know who should be granted decision-making power in the team and whom the decision affects. If a solution affects everybody on the team – let’s say it’s moving your entire family to another country – then you need to ensure that there’s a consensus among everybody. If it turns out that there are many possible acceptable solutions, then you could vote on them, as it would keep everyone involved in the decision-making process.

26 May, 2020 05:33 Share

This does not mean, however, that all decisions have to be democratic! For example, in cases where you have a strong, trustful relationship with a person or team, you can waive the group’s involvement and turn the final say over to a single person. Next, once the decision has been made, you must put it into practice by clearly establishing who does what by when. Everybody on the team needs to know what you want and what they must do to achieve it.

26 May, 2020 05:34 Share

If, however, your instructions are unclear, then you might experience a similar misfortune as entrepreneur Howard Hughes, who assigned a group of engineers to build a steam-powered car. After several years of hard work, they indeed created a car that was powered by steam, except that it would boil the passengers alive in the event of an accident. He obviously didn’t make what he wanted exactly clear!

26 May, 2020 05:35 Share

Final summary

Crucial conversations can often devolve into shouting matches. However, if you learn the right skills, you can master these dialogues and achieve optimal results from them, and in turn noticeably improve your personal and professional life. Focus on respect. Avoid making someone feel unsafe in a conversation by ensuring that they know you respect them as individuals. It’s okay to ask. When you feel your emotions flaring up, ask the other person if your interpretation of their behavior is right before freaking out.

26 May, 2020 05:35 Share

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blinkist communication-skills management-leadership marketing-sales
Published by Be Better January 29th, 2020

Radical Collaboration

What’s in it for me? Find out how to become a better collaborator.

When reading about the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, it’s easy to think of success as a one-person show. But probe a bit deeper and you’ll see that success depends heavily on being able to form great collaborations with others.

29 January, 2020 01:18 Share

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Tag: communication-skills

The Bartering Mindset

The Bartering Mindset: A Mostly Forgotten Framework for Mastering Your Next Negotiation

The monetary mind-set leads to a narrow-minded approach to negotiation.

We can observe the bartering mind-set in an idealized bartering economy.

The first step a negotiator with a bartering mind-set takes is to define needs and offerings.

Define the full spectrum of your transaction partners and identify their potential needs and offerings.

Identify power partnerships by assessing relationships and the costs and benefits of trades.

Step five in cultivating a bartering mind-set is to seek out the most powerful potential partnerships.

Bridge the bartering mind-set with the monetary mind-set by using Multi-Issue Offers (MIOs).

About the book:

About the author:

Tags

Never Split the Difference

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

Negotiation occurs in every aspect of life – and there’s more to it than rationality and intellect.

Successful negotiation is about building trust and getting information.

Closely listening to and even repeating what your counterpart says can build trust.

The tone of your voice can do wonders for negotiation.

Understand and state the emotions of your counterpart to position yourself effectively in a negotiation.

Don’t accept the other party’s demands, don’t compromise, and don’t rush.

Final summary

About the book:

About the author:

Tags

10 Days to Faster Reading

10 Days to Faster Reading: Zip Through Books, Magazines, and Newspapers – Understand and Remember Everything You Read

People put too much pressure on themselves when they read.

Becoming a more efficient reader is as easy as kicking a few bad habits.

You can read faster by taking shortcuts.

To speed up your reading, try only reading the keywords.

Other techniques you should try are "reading between the lines" and "indenting."

About the book:

About the author:

Tags

Crucial Conversations

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

What’s in it for me? Learn how to broach sensitive topics without stepping on a landmine.

Crucial conversations provoke an over-emotional and irrational response.

The best solutions only arise when people freely share information in crucial conversations.

Stay focused on your goals in a crucial conversation to prevent becoming overly emotional.

People are more likely to behave aggressively in conversations where they don’t feel "safe."

Create safe conversations by ensuring that people feel like you respect them and their interests.

Manage your emotions by ensuring that you’ve gotten the facts straight before you interpret.

Make others feel safe in a conversation by creating an atmosphere where they feel their opinions are valued.

Choose an appropriate way of decision-making and a clear division of responsibilities to put a conversation into action.

Final summary

About the book:

About the author:

Tags

Radical Collaboration

Radical Collaboration: Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships

What’s in it for me? Find out how to become a better collaborator.

About the book:

About the author:

Tags