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Add a section on low-level execution focus
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vipulnaik committed Nov 25, 2021
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Expand Up @@ -272,6 +272,78 @@ frequent back-and-forth. I found some techniques as well as some
principles to have broader applicability, including to more
asynchronous and one-to-may communication contexts.

### Low-level execution focus rather than domain-specific tactical or business school-style strategy focus

In the comments, Adam Zerner writes:

> It seems worth mentioning that leverage is hugely important. Both 1)
> having it, and 2) understanding it. For example, suppose you are a
> programmer applying to companies. 1) It's helpful to be good at
> interviews and have a lot of companies interested in you. 2) It's
> helpful to be aware of this fact, and to be aware of what sort of
> leverage the companies have. Ie. BATNA.
>
> Maybe you can call what I am referring to as hard skills and what
> you are referring to as soft skills? I feel like that isn't a great
> way to categorize is, but nothing better is coming to me. Whatever
> the categories are, I think it would be good to explicitly mention
> that this article is targeting one of them, and that there are other
> things that are important for the bigger picture of being able to
> negotiate well.
I also got a related
[comment](https://www.facebook.com/vipulnaik.r/posts/10225235208883203?comment_id=10225238040994004)
on my Facebook share of the post:

> Also if I may seek more details about the Masterclass , does it also
> delve into concepts taught in management schools (albeit with a
> different name) like ZOPA(Zone of Possible Agreement) & BATNA ( Best
> Alternative to Negotiated Agreement )
These are great points. There is some discussion in Voss's MasterClass
about understanding who has leverage. He also goes into a few
nuts-and-bolts bargaining tools like the Ackerman method and provides
general advice on price negotiation. He also has a mock job
negotiation.

Nonetheless, for the most part, the aspect of negotiations that Voss
covers has much more to do with the low-level execution of *how* to
share and receive information, as opposed to the *what* of
communication. And to the extent that Voss covers other angles, my
review skips over them.

Obviously, the *what* of negotiation matters a lot, and there's great
advice online around it -- this post does not compete with such
advice. In fact, when a lot of people think of negotiation, they're
focused on the *what* aspect -- what price should I settle for?

There are a few reasons I think Voss doesn't focus on these much in
his MasterClass, and my review here doesn't talk about it at all:

* The *what* is highly domain-specific, and even within a domain
requires a fair amount of market research and even getting into the
nitty-gritties after your counterpart gives you situation-specific
information. A 3-hour MasterClass intended to appeal to a wide
audience can't really get into the what too much. With that said, in
the MasterClass and in several of his interviews that I've linked
to, Voss talks about some of the nuts and bolts of the *what*
question in the context of real estate negotiation, business
partnerships, and job interviews. He's often relying on information
he learns back from people who come to the Black Swan Group for
training and apply the ideas in real life.

* Highly prescriptive approaches to the *what* question are in tension
with the thrust of the approach that Voss is trying to push for --
namely to be open and curious and let the other side reveal more
information to enable collaborative problem-solving. In some of his
interviews Voss talks about how he thinks some of the techniques
like BATNA are not that useful, but he has a lot of respect for
Roger Fisher, who championed these techniques. Voss thinks Fisher's
success comes not so much from the techniques as from the emotional
intelligence he has when applying them. Voss thinks his own
techniques come closer to what needs to be done execution-wise to
achieve those sorts of results.

## Negotiation principles

This section covers my own interpretation of key "principles"
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