The Book of Real-World Negotiations

Introduction

The Power of Stories to Teach About Negotiation

“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.”

– Robert McKee, Professor¹

“Tell me a story.” That simple phrase has been at the heart of how conversations between people have begun for millennia and a significant vehicle for how knowledge is passed from one generation to the next. People have a knack for remembering stories, especially those with powerful lessons at their core.

Stories stemming from real-world negotiations are no different. In fact, actual negotiations that happen in business, government, and the world around us stay lodged in our memories better than theories, concepts, or facts. Why are these negotiation stories so powerful? An important part of the reason is because they often challenge our assumptions and preconceptions about what is achievable when people sit down together. As but one small example, consider the following story that a colleague shared with me a number of years ago.² It is conveyed from her point of view.

Many years ago, I was hired as a negotiation advisor to help a small company with a merger they were seeking to engage in. Initially, I met with the company numerous times to prepare—discussing what their best-case scenario would look like (Aspiration Point), what they really hoped to achieve (Target Point), and at what point the deal no longer made sense and they would walk away (Reservation Point). All pretty standard notions. We also talked about ...