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The secret to becoming a world-class negotiator

According to Nicole Soames, author of The Negotiation Book, emotional intelligence and “old fashioned chutzpah” are essential

December 7, 2017 11:44
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3 min read

The convulsions that have marked the Brexit negotiations this week — after months of wrangling — suggests that our politicians could do with some expert help. How do you make a good deal?

Stephen White, of Bournemouth runs a world-wide business, Scotwork, helping companies ranging from Royal Mail to the advertising giant WPP to improve their deal-making skills. Scotwork operates all over the world — except in Israel, of which more later — running training schemes for negotiators.

White is watching the Brexit negotiations with interest, and says there are similarities with business: “Many of the skills are the same, but they operate in a completely different way. Mostly, it’s about strategy and tactics. How do we get to what we want a deal to be? What are our red lines? Do we mention the red lines at the beginning?”

But according to Nicole Soames,author of The Negotiation Book — Practical Steps to becoming a master negotiator, emotional intelligence and “old fashioned chutzpah” are essential. She says it’s wrong to think you need to have an aggressive approach to getting what you want.