Stuff I Wish I'd Known When I Started Working

NEGOTIATION THERE MUST BE SOMETHING IN THE DEAL FOR EVERYONE

My father said: ‘You must never try to make all the money that’s in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won’t have many deals’.

– J. Paul Getty, American industrialist and billionaire

If you’ve ever flown across the Atlantic you’ll most likely have seen ads in the in-flight magazine for negotiating seminars. The tagline is a good one. ‘In Business as in Life’, they blare, ‘You Don’t Get What You Deserve. You Get What You Negotiate’.

Maybe it’s true. I’ve never done one of these seminars. So anything I’ve learned about negotiation I’ve picked up along the way. There have been a couple of negotiations, ...