Black Belt Negotiating: Become a Master Negotiator Using Powerful Lessons from the Martial Arts

Don’t Assume

Don’t make assumptions about opponents from their manner, dress, speech, gender, or other outward appearance. In the dojo, when men spar with women, they may hold back a bit because, initially, they don’t want to hurt them. Smart female fighters often use this to their advantage to score a few points early in the contest.

Grant Tabuchi is a very experienced businessman whose family has been in the United States for four generations. However, because he looks rather young and is Asian, many people assume he is not familiar with American contracts and finances. He related a story to me about when he was negotiating the ninth lease for his martial arts schools. He said, “The woman leasing agent assumed that I had no experience in commercial ...