One of the classic Hollywood images of the world of business is concerned with negotiations. Filmmakers seem to love the art of the smiling dealmaker – making the big sale; buying low, selling high; beating rival bids; winning over a diffident client with a force of convincing schmoozing and bargaining.
Whenever we watch the heavily stylised likes of shows such as The Apprentice, the able negotiator will always come out on top – gaining plaudits for their searing sales pitches and shifting the most products at the highest prices. In this glamorous version of business, dealmakers always tend to light up the screen.
Such images certainly make a case for the central importance of negotiating skills in the toolset of any successful business-person and, while it shouldn’t be prioritised to the exclusion of all else, it is certainly exceedingly important to any aspiring leader. As an opener, a leader is unlikely to go very long without being compelled to get involved with the meaty work of negotiating in their company’s particular business. That might be in lending guiding support to get their products into an exciting new market, or directly contributing to the negotiations for more favourable prices from a major supplier.
As the process of negotiating is about identifying and executing a deliberate and intelligent strategy for success, it only makes sense that the person actually charged with taking major strategic and operational decisions might have a direct contribution to make in the effort.
Successful negotiation also requires a real clarity of purpose, which comes from careful understanding of what it is you actually want from a situation and what you are prepared to concede to achieve it. Such balanced decision-making and consequent forthright action are at the base of much of the activities that leaders must engage with.
And that’s not to forget the many other outlets for negotiating skills that will surely be called upon at regular intervals. Negotiation is, for example, an essential element of diplomacy and leaders certainly need a high degree of such skills to handle the conflicts, the internal deals and arrangements and the differences of opinion that come along with the boardroom territory. Being capable of identifying the particular demands and desires of rival parties, then drawing those two positions towards a successful compromise, is crucial for a chief executive.
By the time a leader becomes a leader they should have practised many of these aspects of negotiating through the different positions and responsibilities that brought them there.
They will probably have been involved with making and breaking important deals for different divisions of different businesses; they will most probably have negotiated many contract terms and conditions – not least the content of the contracts of their direct reports and, indeed, that of their own. They should also have developed their capacity to better read other peoples’ intentions and plans through a thousand management meetings and they will have developed the interpersonal abilities needed to ease the pain of difficult negotiating encounters.
The culmination of this varied experience should serve a leader well in the situations they are called to act within. But stasis is not an option and it is a misnomer to believe that a carefully built Hollywood self-image of being an expert dealmaker will carry over into leadership wit h no further effort. Perhaps more than nearly any other skill, negotiating is one best practised regularly and a leader should seek to practice through actively seeking out opportunities to do so.
There is really little wonder that negotiating skills are among the most telegenic parts of business – negotiating, after all, clearly contains many elements of theatricality within it. There are feints of indifference, there are overblown statements of disbelief, there can be a whole lot riding on a charismatic, convincing display. Leaders must involve themselves with all of this to improve continually as a negotiator, in the process recognising that showmanship and substance can be a powerful source of success.
Ahmad Badr is the chief executive of Abu Dhabi University Knowledge Group.
business@thenational.ae
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