Secrets of Power Negotiating, 15th Anniversary Edition

Chapter 44

How Americans Negotiate

The American Art of the Deal

New York real estate investor Donald Trump wrote a best-selling book, The Art of the Deal, that detailed many of his early real estate negotiations. The title and the premise of the book illuminate the overriding concern of most American negotiators: the cutting of the deal. We do live in a very deal-conscious environment.

I suppose that sociologists would tell you that we concentrate more on cutting the deal than other nations because we are such a mobile and diverse society that we have little sense of roots. Instead of trusting the people and the way things are done, as is common around the world, we place all of our trust in creating an unbreakable deal. “Will it hold up ...