Influence

The book I read to research this post was Brilliant Influence by Mike Clayton which is a very good book which I read at http://safaribooksonline.com

Mike is a businessman who lives in Manchester, UK & is also a motivational speaker who knows quite a lot about this subject. Many people think they are poor negotiators but when you were very young you were an excellent negotiator and it is only as you got older and over analyzed it you may have partially lost it. Just look at the fuss a young child makes when they want a parent to buy them something and often succeed. Gandhi once said you must be the changes you wish to see in the world although that may be paraphrased slightly and you need to be ethical and only ask for things you really want. If you give in on a point in a negotiation ask for something in return preferably that is high value to you and low value to the other party. The British Army has a saying Prior planning and preparation prevents poor performance, and normally when something goes wrong it's because you didn't plan for it. Of course prior to going into an important negotiation do your research and be prepared for what the other person might suggest and put yourself in the other person's place and think about what you would suggest in their situation which can be quite revealing. I did enjoy this book and it's only around 200 pages so is a fairly quick read. It's part of the Brilliant series which are mostly books on business topics and are pretty good overall.