Dealcraft: Insights from Great Negotiators

In 2015, before a rapt Harvard audience, Colin Powell recounted his poignant and incredible life story and career with me and my colleagues Bob Mnookin and Nick Burns. Interwoven into his remarkable accounts were lessons drawn from profound success and deep failure in negotiation. In this week's episode of Dealcraft: Insights from the World's Great Negotiators, I share three short examples of success from these conversations with Powell:   Dealing with Vladimir Putin over the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty Negotiating with the Chinese government in a tense incident over the release of the crew of a U.S. spy plane that crash-landed on a Chinese island Mediating an impending conflict between Spain and Morocco that threatened to escalate into a confrontation between the EU and the Arab League   Via these three examples, I extract a number of best practices for successful dealmaking, negotiation, dispute resolution, and leadership, gleaned from Powell’s distinguished 40-year career in the military and State Department. In the weeks to come, I will continue to explore these rich, powerful, and sometimes painful stories of negotiation from my time interviewing Secretary Powell.   About Dealcraft   For decades, I've practiced, researched, advised high-level clients, and taught effective approaches to complex negotiations. These experiences led me to create Dealcraft. I welcome you to join me as I interview some of the world’s greatest dealmakers and diplomats to share fascinating deal stories and distill practical insights for listeners to apply in their own toughest negotiations. You’ll find a 3-minute trailer and fuller description of Dealcraft’s first season here.   Host: James K. Sebenius Co-Producers: Alex Green and Avery Moore Kloss Outreach: Podglomerate   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

When facing any negotiating counterpart, especially a very tough one, it is wise to learn as much as possible about their background, likely approach, and tactics that can turn the interaction to your advantage.  This episode uses Vladimir Putin as a prototypical hardball opponent and shows just how much one can usefully learn by speaking with others who have extensively and personally negotiated with this challenging Russian leader. Via interviews with former U.S. Secretaries of State Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Rex Tillerson (who also carried out many negotiations with Putin when Tillerson was a top ExxonMobil executive), this episode gives valuable insights into dealing effectively with Putin, but more generally demonstrates a key element of preparation for tough deals.    For further reading and information:   3-D Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals by David Lax and James K. Sebenius Playbook for Negotiators in the Social Media Era Negotiating with Vladimir Putin by James K. Sebenius and Robert Mnookin The Man Without a Face by Masha Gessen Mr. Putin by Fiona Hill Putin’s People by Catherine Belton The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder From Cold War to Hot Peace by Michael McFaul Putin’s People by Ann Applebaum Winter is Coming by Garry Kasparov   Host: Jim Sebenius Co-producers: Alex Green and Avery Moore Kloss Outreach: Podglomerate   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

John Branca was tasked by his client, Michael Jackson, to buy the Beatles’ catalog. Jackson’s instructions: “under any circumstances, do not lose this catalog, but do not overpay and don’t over-negotiate.” To pull this off, Branca was soon embroiled in a fierce competition against record companies and individuals such as Richard Branson who also craved this musical prize. Ultimately, John Branca must negotiate with its then-owner, ruthless Australian billionaire, Robert Holmes á Court, who frequently made reference to how the clever North Vietnamese bested the vastly stronger Americans.  Via tactics that have broader implications for other negotiators, Branca was able to pull off this deal for a much lower price than offered by others and parlay it into an unprecedentedly lucrative joint venture for Jackson with Sony. About the Podcast: From Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, to trade agreements with China, pivotal Blackstone deals, and the peaceful end of apartheid in South Africa, landmark agreements are often spearheaded by savvy negotiators who employ winning strategies and tactics.  I’m Jim Sebenius, your host for Dealcraft. For decades, I've practiced, researched, advised high-level clients,  and taught effective approaches to complex negotiations.  These experiences led me to create Dealcraft.  I welcome you to join me each week as I share fascinating deal stories and distill practical insights for listeners to apply in their own toughest negotiations. Host: Jim Sebenius Co-Producers: Alex Green and Avery Moore Kloss Outreach: Podglomerate Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

One of Singapore’s top diplomats, Ambassador Tommy Koh, has negotiated countless tricky issues during his illustrious career. This episode focuses on his role as Singapore’s chief negotiator in successfully crafting a free trade deal—via a complex “negotiation campaign”—with the United States. This agreement was especially challenging since Koh pulled it off over the opposition of the then-U.S. Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor.

While the hallmark of the first episode with Steve Schwarzman involved his probing deeper interests and forging creative solutions, this episode draws lessons from several negotiations in which Schwarzman either played hardball or was the target of hardball tactics. Broader lessons on handling such moves derive from how Steve dealt with these challenges. This week's episode is based on four Harvard Business School Case studies by Dealcraft host Jim Sebenius which can be found here: James K. Sebenius, and Alex Green. "Steve Schwarzman on Dealmaking I: “Becoming a ‘Friend of the Situation’” (A)." Harvard Business School Case 922-005, November 2021. View Details; (B) Case Harvard Business School Supplement 922-006, November 2021. View Details "Steve Schwarzman on Dealmaking II: When They Hold All the Cards (A)." Harvard Business School Case 922-007, November 2021. View Details; (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 922-008, November 2021. View Details About Dealcraft: With an ear for memorable deal stories, Harvard Business School professor and renowned negotiation expert Jim Sebenius interviews many of the world’s greatest dealmakers and diplomats about their most challenging negotiations. From each episode, Jim extracts useful insights and lessons to help listeners with their toughest deals and disputes. Host and Producer: Jim Sebenius Co-Producer: Alex Green Co-Producer: Avery Moore Kloss Media and Outreach: Podglomerate Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Fresh out of Harvard Business School, entrepreneur Desirée Stolar and her co-founder must negotiate equity splits and a tricky manufacturing deal before they are unexpectedly chosen for Shark Tank.  They must prepare carefully—the numbers, the very different “sharks’” personalities, and the high-profile process—and ultimately receive an investment offer from Mark Cuban, after which some very unexpected negotiating twists and turns ensue. About the Podcast: From Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, to trade agreements with China, pivotal Blackstone deals, and the peaceful end of apartheid in South Africa, landmark agreements are often spearheaded by savvy negotiators who employ winning strategies and tactics.  I’m Jim Sebenius, your host for Dealcraft. For decades, I've practiced, researched, advised high-level clients,  and taught effective approaches to complex negotiations. These experiences led me to create Dealcraft. I welcome you to join me each week as I share fascinating deal stories and distill practical insights for listeners to apply in their own toughest negotiations. Host: Jim Sebenius Co-Producers: Alex Green and Avery Moore Kloss Outreach: Podglomerate Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

While today’s Blackstone is a financial behemoth with over a trillion dollars under management, this episode takes us back to the days when the firm was a fragile startup and each deal had a make-or-break character.  In interviews with Steve Schwarzman, Blackstone’s co-founder, chairman, and CEO, this episode recounts several deals and analyzes them for their broader lessons in which Schwarzman needed to probe for the real interests of the parties and craft very creative solutions in order to succeed.  About the Podcast: From Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, to trade agreements with China, pivotal Blackstone deals, and the peaceful end of apartheid in South Africa, landmark agreements are often spearheaded by savvy negotiators who employ winning strategies and tactics.  I’m Jim Sebenius, your host for Dealcraft. For decades, I've practiced, researched, advised high-level clients,  and taught effective approaches to complex negotiations.  These experiences led me to create Dealcraft.  I welcome you to join me each week as I share fascinating deal stories and distill practical insights for listeners to apply in their own toughest negotiations. Host: Jim Sebenius Co-Producers: Alex Green and Avery Moore Kloss Outreach: Podglomerate   Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

“At the table moves”—including establishing rapport, connection, and relationships—include Hillary Clinton dealing with Vladimir Putin, artist Jeanne-Claude, who with her husband Christo, won over countless stakeholders to build their massive outdoor art installations, as well as former Secretary of State James Baker, and Disney CEO Bob Iger.  Protagonists whose “away from the table” moves to shape the underlying situation in their favor include former Colombian President Juan Santos dealing with a guerrilla group, Christiana Figueres quietly building powerful external support prior to the Paris climate negotiations, former Goldman Sachs managing partner Steve Friedman, and music industry super-lawyer John Branca hit with a surprise buy-sell demand from Sony—that held all the financial and legal cards. Production Details: I am deeply grateful to Harvard for giving me permission to use audio excerpts from interviews I’ve conducted over the years with various Great Negotiator honorees and U.S. Secretaries of State, often with colleagues and friends such as Robert Mnookin of Harvard Law School and R. Nicholas Burns, formerly of Harvard’s Kennedy School.   Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

In this second Dealcraft episode, six remarkable women and men discuss how they dealt with critical moments in their most challenging business and public sector negotiations. After each example, I’ll suggest insights that will help you handle critical moments in your toughest deals. Here’s who you’ll meet:   Charlene Barshefsky, elite private sector lawyer and former US special trade representative, dealing with a threatening ultimatum in China; Rex Tillerson, who headed ExxonMobil and served as the U.S. Secretary of State, earlier in his career facing a key moment in a middle eastern business deal, when the other side began to hurl insults and tear up two years of progress; Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman responding to a make-or-break negotiating impasse with a Japanese company when Blackstone was still a fragile startup; An English property developer facing apparently extortionate demands by the owner of the final, must-have parcel; How Henry Kissinger, when secretly negotiating with Zhou Enlai, finally cracked the killer issue that for years had blocked any relationship between the U.S. and China; and Christiana Figueres, Costa Rican diplomat and the key UN figure in the 2015 Paris climate negotiations, persuading the very reluctant Saudis to come on board.   About Jim Sebenius   A systematic approach to handling challenging negotiations is in the book I wrote with David Lax, 3D Negotiation. More about my background is here plus information about the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School—a consortium of Harvard, MIT, and Tufts—and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Contact me here.   Resources Mentioned in Episode 2   Many of my academic colleagues have written excellent papers on various aspects of critical moments in negotiation.  You can find many of these articles in two special issues of the Negotiation Journal devoted to this topic.  The first of these issues is in Vol. 20, No. 2 (April 2004).  In this issue, among many excellent pieces, I especially like the introduction:  Carrie Menkel-Meadow; Critical Moments in Negotiation: Implications for Research, Pedagogy, and Practice. Negotiation Journal 2004; 20 (2): 341–347, as well as this article: Gillian M. Green, Michael Wheeler; Awareness and Action in Critical Moments. Negotiation Journal 2004; 20 (2): 349–364.     In the second issue of the Negotiation Journal devoted to critical moments, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Spring 2020), I refer you especially to the introduction: Daniel Druckman and Joel Cutcher‐Gershenfeld; Introduction to Special Issue: Critical Moments in Negotiation II. Negotiation Journal 2020; 36 (2): 85–90.  I also like  the piece by Lawrence Susskind; Ten Propositions Regarding Critical Moments in Negotiation. Negotiation Journal 2004; 20 (2): 339–340.   Acknowledgements   I am deeply grateful to Harvard for giving me permission to use audio excerpts from interviews I’ve conducted over the years with various Great Negotiator honorees and U.S. Secretaries of State, often with colleagues and friends such as Robert Mnookin of Harvard Law School and R. Nicholas Burns, formerly of Harvard’s Kennedy School.   Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

The most viewed music video of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, was almost destroyed before it was released except for some almost unbelievable negotiations by music industry super-lawyer, John Branca, over 30 of whose clients have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame—ranging from Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones to Michael Jackson and Dr Dre. Incidentally, this episode reveals how Branca was able to negotiate for Jackson the ownership of his master recordings, an almost unprecedented feat at the time. For educators and negotiation fans looking to take a deep dive into John Branca's negotiations, check out the Harvard Business School case studies written by Jim Sebenius below: Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "Negotiating in a Hurricane: John Branca and the Michael Jackson Estate." Harvard Business School Case 924-026, July 2024. View Details Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "John Branca: Negotiating the Beatles' Northern Songs Catalog (A)." Harvard Business School Case 921-009, October 2020. View Details Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "John Branca: Negotiating the Beatles' Northern Songs Catalog (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 921-010, October 2020. View Details Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "John Branca: Negotiating Michael Jackson's Thriller (A)." Harvard Business School Case 920-027, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details Sebenius, James K., and Alex Green. "John Branca: Negotiating Michael Jackson’s Thriller (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 920-036, January 2020. View Details About Jim Sebenius   A systematic approach to handling challenging negotiations is in the book I wrote with David Lax, 3D Negotiation. More about my background is here plus information about the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School—a consortium of Harvard, MIT, and Tufts—and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Contact me here. Acknowledgements   I am deeply grateful to Harvard for giving me permission to use audio excerpts from interviews I’ve conducted over the years with various Great Negotiator honorees and U.S. Secretaries of State, often with colleagues and friends such as Robert Mnookin of Harvard Law School and R. Nicholas Burns, formerly of Harvard’s Kennedy School.   Materials courtesy of the Great Negotiator Award Program at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.   Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Season 1 Trailer: From Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, to trade agreements with China, pivotal Blackstone deals, and the peaceful end of apartheid in South Africa, landmark agreements are often spearheaded by savvy negotiators who employ winning strategies and tactics. Beginning September 9, join world-renowned negotiation expert and Harvard Business School professor Jim Sebenius as he explores fascinating stories from remarkable negotiators and distills practical insights that listeners can apply in their toughest deals and disputes.