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The Most Effective Negotiation Tactic, According to AI

The most effective negotiation tactic may also be one of the simplest: asking better questions. New research shows that open-ended questions can uncover valuable information and lead to better outcomes. Read more...When preparing for a negotiation, people often concentrate on what they are going to say. They rehearse their arguments, organise their evidence and decide how they will respond if the other party pushes back.However, research analysed with the help of artificial intelligence suggests...

What People Still Get Wrong About Negotiations

Negotiation is not always a contest over a fixed amount of value. By understanding what each party genuinely values, it may be possible to create a better agreement for everyone. Read more...Many people approach negotiation as though they are dividing a fixed pie. If one party receives more, the other must receive less.This belief encourages people to protect information, make aggressive demands and concentrate on claiming their share. However, it can also prevent them from recognising opportuni...

Should You Write with Gen AI?

Generative AI can make business writing faster and easier, but it can also introduce errors and flatten your individual voice. The answer is not necessarily whether to use it, but how. Read more...Writing occupies a significant part of the working day. Emails, reports, proposals, meeting notes and presentations all compete for our time and attention.It is easy to understand the appeal of generative AI. A tool that can produce a draft in seconds appears to offer an immediate solution to informati...

A Simple Way to Communicate More Effectively

Clear communication is not always about finding better words. Often, it is about giving your message a structure that makes it easier for people to understand, remember and act upon.In his Harvard Business Review article, A Simple Hack to Help You Communicate More Effectively, communication expert Matt Abrahams introduces a practical three-part framework:...

To Make Your Pitches More Engaging, Appeal to Multiple Learning Styles

A good idea can still fail to connect if it is presented in only one way. Combining stories, visuals, evidence and interaction can help more of your audience understand and remember your message. Read more...When a pitch fails to gain support, we often blame the idea, the presenter or the quality of the slides. However, the problem may be that the presentation does not give the audience enough ways to engage with the message.People do not all process information in exactly the same way. Some wan...

How to Handle an Emotionally Charged Negotiation

When emotions run high, even an experienced negotiator can lose sight of the real issue. Slowing the conversation down and listening for what lies beneath the conflict can create a way forward. Read more...Conflict is an unavoidable part of leadership. It may involve competing priorities, damaged trust, an unhappy client, a difficult employment issue or a commercially important agreement.Whatever the situation, a negotiation becomes more difficult when strong emotions are involved. Frustration, ...

The secret to a Good Meeting? Preparation!

Productive meetings rarely happen by accident. The quality of the conversation, decisions and outcomes often depends on the preparation completed before anyone enters the room. Read more...Meetings are a necessary part of business, but they are not always a productive one. Too often, people arrive without knowing exactly why they are there, what they need to contribute or what should have been achieved by the time the meeting ends.The difference between a meeting that creates momentum and one th...

The Best Public Speakers Put Their Audience First

Exceptional public speaking is about more than delivering a polished introduction, maintaining eye contact or appearing confident on stage. The most effective speakers focus on what their audience needs to understand, feel and do.In her Harvard Business Review article, The Best Public Speakers Put the Audience First, communication expert Deborah Grayson Riegel suggests approaching public speaking as a form of servant leadership. Instead of using the stage to demonstrate everything you know, use ...

Stop Ghosting and Start Saying No

Avoiding an uncomfortable response may feel easier in the moment, but professional ghosting creates uncertainty and damages trust. A clear and respectful “no” is usually far kinder. Read more...Ghosting is normally associated with dating, but it has become common in professional life as well.A recruiter disappears after several interviews. A potential client stops responding after requesting a proposal. A colleague promises an introduction but never follows through. Someone asks for help and...

America's top fears: Public speaking, heights and bugs

Democrats are nearly twice as likely as Republicans to have a fear of clowns. They are also significantly more likely to fear bugs, snakes and other animals, as well as blood and needles. Democrats are slightly more likely to be afraid of ghosts....

What Great Listeners Actually Do

Chances are you think you're a good listener. People's appraisal of their listening ability is much like their assessment of their driving skills, in that the great bulk of adults think they're above average. In our experience, most people think good listening comes down to doing three things:...

What the Best Presenters Do Differently

What separates an effective presentation from one that is quickly forgotten? It isn’t simply polished slides, impressive statistics or sophisticated presentation software. The strongest presenters understand how to tell a story.In his Harvard Business Review article, What the Best Presenters Do Differently, communication expert Carmine Gallo explains that our minds are naturally drawn to stories. As he puts it, “Our minds are wired for story.”Here are five of the article’s key lessons an...

Does Higher Education Still Prepare People For Jobs ?

We often hear employers and business leaders lament the unfortunate gap between what students learn in college and what they are actually expected to know in order to be job-ready. This is particularly alarming in light of the large — and still growing — number of people graduating from university: above 40% of 25 to 34-year-olds in OECD countries, and nearly 50% of 25 to 34-year-olds in America....

How To Give A Killer Presentation

A little more than a year ago, on a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a 12-year-old Masai boy named Richard Turere, who told us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest challenges is protecting the animals from lions—especially at night. Richard had noticed that placing lamps in a field didn't deter lion attacks, but when he walked the field with a torch, the lions stayed away. From a young age, he'd been inter...

How to Combat Zoom Fatigue

If you're finding that you're more exhausted at the end of your workday than you used to be, you're not alone. Over the past few weeks, mentions of "Zoom fatigue" have popped up more and more on social media, and Google searches for the same phrase have steadily increased since early March....

What It Takes to Run a Great Hybrid Meeting

A recent McKinsey survey...

To Succeed in a Negotiation, Help Your Counterpart Save Face

What do a human rights negotiation in Afghanistan, a crisis negotiation in Calgary, and a business dispute between a Brazilian and a Frenchman have in common? At first blush, nothing. However, when we dig deeper into these high-stakes negotiations, there is a common thread that connects them all. The concept of face....

Stop Talking Over Each Other in Virtual Meetings

As companies of all sizes grapple with how and when to return to a physical office, it's clear that virtual meetings are here to stay, with all the challenges and pet peeves that come with them. As more people return to in-person encounters, the hybrid meeting will follow suit....

9 Tactics for Better Remote Negotiations

Whether you're a manufacturer looking to sign a new supplier agreement, a tech company trying to close a big commercial contract, or a retailer wanting to modify its warehousing terms, the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way you should negotiate....

Why your meetings stink, and what to do about it

Dave, a senior VP at a large U.S. bank, was a strong one-on-one manager. However, 360-degree feedback revealed that he struggled in one critical area: leading effective meetings. Multiple employees described his meetings as "a time suck." They complained that he asked them to meet too often, allowed a few people to dominate conversations, and failed to create an environment where attendees really wrestled with ideas and engaged in critical thinking. These comments took Dave by complete surprise....

The Art of the elevator pitch

Long before your favorite movie made it to a theater near you, it was presented in a pitch meeting. Hollywood screenwriters typically get three to five minutes to propose an idea, but it takes only around 45 seconds for producers to know if they want to invest. Specifically, producers are listening for a logline: one or two sentences that explain what the movie is about. If there is no logline, more often than not, there is no sale....

What it takes to run a great virtual meeting

As companies scramble to protect employees from the spreading coronavirus with travel restrictions and remote work arrangements, there's a distinct possibility that in-person meetings with teams, customers, or suppliers may be canceled for days — or potentially weeks....

How great TED Speakers distil 40 years of experience into 18 minutes

A great speaker can condense decades of experience into a presentation that lasts no longer than 18 minutes. It's a tactic you must master to become a great communicator....

How to Rehearse for an Important Presentation

Steve Jobs was the most astonishing business speaker of his time. Bill Gates once called him a "wizard" who "cast spells" on his audience. Fortune magazine proclaimed that his keynotes could set "hardened hearts aflutter." Jobs is one of the few CEOs whose presentations have a dedicated Wikipedia page; his keynotes alone could spark a surge in Apple's stock....

How to Write a Cover Letter

No one likes job hunting. Scouring through online jobs boards, spiffing up your résumé, prepping for grueling interviews — none of it's fun. But perhaps the most challenging part of the process is writing an effective cover letter. There's so much conflicting advice out there, it's hard to know where to start. Indeed, in an age of digital communication, many might question whether you even need a cover letter anymore....