Story in the comments!
As a young lawyer, I learned how to negotiate from John Russell, a lawyer in rural Alabama who sued the local sheriff for atrocious conditions at the county jail. When the judge certified the class of the 445 people detained at the jail (designed for 100), John called the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) in Atlanta to ask for help. Somewhat to his dismay, SCHR sent me, fresh out of law school with no skills and even less sense. The indomitable Judge U.W. Clemons granted us a favorable preliminary injunction, set a trial date, and sent the parties off to try and negotiate a settlement. To prepare for our first meeting with the attorney representing the county, I put together a binder with 78 talking points, each one honed to a fine point, footnoted, highlighted, categorized, cross-referenced, and color-coded. I gave the binder to John Russell, who handed me in return a cup of coffee and the local newspaper. He read the binder from front to back.
This was my first lesson: deep listening is the foundation of a successful negotiation. This has proven to be, far and away, the most important of the many negotiation lessons I learned from this talented and caring country lawyer. And these are the kinds of lessons you will come to appreciate and use for a lifetime. In the ‘Negotiating with Power’ course, you will learn two specific techniques for deep listening. We know it’s not effective to simply implore you to “Pay attention! Listen deeply!” During the 3-day course, you will learn a focused attention meditation and be given multiple opportunities to practice. You will also learn how to use a partner exercise to discover your counterpart’s point of view. There are many, many more things that you’ll learn to build your confidence to negotiate with power.