Negotiation: Cleansing moments before leadership begins!

Courtesy of the brilliant OB professors that I have come across in my B-school, there are quite a few tidbits I would like to share here for the benefit of all and for later references.

So, beginning right away, the first learning:
What is the biggest source of your power on a negotiation table? It's information. Information about your best alternative to the current deal (BATNA) and information about others (business intelligence).

second learning:

Attractiveness influences 36% of the variance between a yes and a no! Attractiveness comes not just from looks but also from the following other traits: tone of voice, crisp communication, positive mood, humor, likability,  credibility and consistency and mirroring of actions.

third learning:

How do you increase value in a negotiation? Expanding the size of the pie by monetizing the intangibles!

In short,
Keep things simple!
Less is moe.
Be grateful!
Don't worry too much about the past and the future.
Live well! :)

Writitng down my own thoughts and views

For a long time I have believed in taking notes of the most insightful readings and messages I have come across. Now, I also wish to begin writing about my personal views and opinions. And when it comes to me, what better subject to write about than leadership,  motivation, public speaking, emceeing and optimism.

So here I was attending my clc class on a not so ceremonious Monday evening. The class began with a host of knowledge dump on meta-programming and NLP. It's surprising how the theory around technicalities is always difficult to absorb and assimilate even when it is the subject you have been yearning to learn about. Nevertheless, I managed to stay on track with the instructor until we arrived at the most interesting part - breakout.

I was coached by a middle aged SAIL professional who felt imprisoned by the forced thoughts, beliefs and ideas from the people in his surroundings and nurtured a dream to coach them some day.

His optimism and toward'ness toward his goal amazed me. This person had spent 7-8 years of his seasoned life trying to read extensively (both online content and relevant books) and felt these years of dedicated reading on the subject had helped him broaden his horizon and look at life from a more reasonable and practical perspective.

His story inspires hope in me about the possibility of a future that I can chose to design.And guess, what - this small conversation with coaching in mind actually prodded me to begin writing once again.

It's amazing how simple questions can prove to be powerful tools of direction in ones life. In this case I was asked quite a few questions by my "coach". And this one question inspired me to regain interest in blogging: Do you also write about your own ideas?

Bang it came to me and I felt a bit ashamed to say that I knew writing was imperative to getting me closer to my goal; and despite being fully aware of this I had discontinued it...

And thus came this post :)