There’s a common saying that the one thing we fear the most is speaking in public. Given the number of conflicts we’re seeing between various parties in sports, business and political circles, it’s not hard to imagine that the next thing most of us would dread is having to negotiate a deal.

Indeed, it seems that most negotiations today tend to erupt into conflicts between the vested parties, thanks to there being a greater interest in escalating talks towards a showdown than focusing on trying to ascertain where some common ground can be found on which to establish an agreement.

According to William Ury, co-author of the best-selling book “Getting to Yes”, the reason why we’re seeing more conflict in negotiations today is due to the fact that “we’ve been used to a pie that was expanding. Now it feels like the pie is shrinking, and that engenders finger-pointing, unproductive behaviors and lose-lose-lose outcomes that make things worse for both sides and for the surrounding community.”

Ironically, those who are most successful at negotiating understand that it’s not about proving that your position is right, which understandably leads to defensive posturing from the other party, if not also allowing for escalating emotions to enter into the fray. On the contrary, to be successful in your negotiations requires one to be attentive and aware of the needs or concerns of those you’re negotiating with and understanding how your own position impacts those factors in order to create a mutually-agreeable solution.

So how can we keep conflicts out of our negotiations so that both parties can achieve what they’re after from the interaction? In her article “You Want What? Four Tips for Civilized Negotiating”, business strategist and author Barbara Findlay Schenck shares four steps to take to ensure both a conflict-free and successful outcome from your negotiations.

Disclaimer: My blog is a part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive monthly incentives to share my views on content I find noteworthy and relevant for my audience.

When it comes to the portrayal of leadership in films and other fictional outlets, there’s a common tendency to present the leader as someone who is unmistakably confident and self-assured; who gives off an air of authority and a willingness to direct others towards the best path to take to get them out their current predicament. In many ways, this makes sense as when we think of a good leader, the traits that often come to mind are confidence, authority and dominance.

Of course, outside of the leadership role, the expression of such traits are not as well regarded considering that they are also the signs of a narcissistic personality – that such traits refer to an individual whose only concerned about their own self-interests, with little thought or regard for the needs or concerns of those around them.

So if we are to believe that leadership is about putting others before yourself, of encouraging those around you to succeed instead of simply directing them to help you personally attain some level of success, why is it that we continue to promote the narcissistic approach to leadership as the best one?  More importantly, does the narcissistic style of leadership help to foster the necessary conditions organizations require to succeed in today’s inter-connected and increasingly competitive market? Three recent studies help to shed some light on this and provide empirical proof that allows us to come to a definitive answer to this question. Click here to continue reading »”It’s Not You, It’s Me – Is Narcissism Good for Leadership?”

What is leadership all about? What does it take to be a leader in today’s world?

These are questions which I found myself pondering over the last few days after noticing a trend lately regarding how some people are choosing to define the traits of a successful leader. Although I’ve written about the debate regarding whether leadership should be viewed as either an art or a science, this current train of thought has surfaced in part from my dismay at seeing what others are pointing out as valuable lessons that leaders today should adopt in how they lead their team or organization.

For example, one idea that’s garnering a lot of press is the notion that the success or vision a given organization has is the sole product of a single individual. Of course, as many of us know from personal experience, the ability of a team to achieve success is not due to the efforts of one person, but from the ability of the different members to work together in pursuit of a shared goal.

Also, while an organization’s vision originates with its leader, it’s only through encouraging employees to Click here to continue reading »”What Does The World Really Need From Today’s Leaders?”

If there’s one chore I could do without, it’s having to shop at the grocery store. I’m not sure if it’s because I always feel like a mouse in a maze trying to find the items on the grocery list (the logic of grocery store layouts still alludes me) or because standing in line waiting to pay for your groceries seems to take longer than any other check-out line. Regardless of the reason, a recent trip to one of our nearby grocery stores resulted in an unexpected – and pleasant – surprise in how it provided both an excellent example and inspiration on how to effectively resolve conflicts in the workplace.

After working through the various grocery aisles and finding most of the items on my grocery list (it always seems that there’s one item I can never find in the store but which my wife could find with her eyes closed), I headed toward the front of the store and stood in one of the check-out lines to pay for my groceries. As I waited in line, the cashier began scanning the various items the woman in front of me had placed on the conveyor belt. All of the sudden, she was stopped by this customer who pointed out that one item had registered at a higher price than what she saw on the shelf.

Following the typical response to such situations, the cashier called one of the nearby stock boys to go and verify the price that was written on the shelf for this item while she continued to process the woman’s purchases. Within a minute or two, the stock boy returned confirming that the price listed on the monitor was the same as what was written on the shelf.

Now, no matter how many times you’ve shopped at the grocery store, this is no doubt a scenario that you’ve witnessed or had to endure at one point or another. In fact, judging from the pained looks on the faces of those standing behind me, all of us had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen next. Click here to continue reading »”4 Keys To Successfully Resolving Conflicts in the Workplace”