Trump-Comey to Negotiate Better Mind Focus – Negotiating Tip of the Week
President Trump should have considered how to make the director of the FBI, Comey thinks, before entering the latest round of negotiations (you’re always negotiating!). To negotiate better, always consider the mindset of the other negotiator. If he does, he will allow you to better focus on the proper trading strategy.
Who is he? What does he focus on when he trades? Those are just a few questions to ask yourself every time you start a negotiation. Such questions help you sharpen the other negotiator’s mind. He makes her focus on how he thinks, which will give you an idea of what he might do during the negotiation.
I wonder if the President was aware of asking such questions when thinking about how he would deal (deal with) former FBI Director Comey.
Questions like who he is, what mindset he possesses, and what that mindset is based on can seem so benign to one’s thought process that such questions don’t get the recognition they should be given. If the president had thought more deeply about these issues, he might have taken a different stance when dealing with Comey.
Here is another point to consider when thinking about the way the other negotiator thinks. When he is negotiating with someone or a group of people, he is not only negotiating with them, he is also negotiating with those who are not at the negotiating table. Break! Depending on your level of trading skill, you may have thought or said to yourself, I know. Here is the point and it is also the intention of this article, think deeper! If you thought about my statement about considering how the other negotiator thinks, in relation to who is not at the negotiating table who has an interest in the negotiation, you’re right, you’re half right.
The ‘think deeper’ aspect means thinking about the people your negotiating counterpart has negotiated with in the past. Those encounters have helped shape your opinions, your sense of perception, your tolerance for risk, in essence, they will have helped shape your mind and thought process. All of this will impact and determine how he negotiates with you.
When President Trump confronted former FBI Director Comey, it appears the President failed to consider the longstanding practices and processes the former director engaged in throughout his career. Processes like documenting what happened in meetings (which left paper trails) and having practiced with many bureaucrats throughout his career should have given the president reason to think more deeply about his attempts to sway Comey’s views in a more way or another. Instead, some say the president tried to use intimidation tactics wrapped in veiled threats (for example, (Comey) had better not have tapes), in an attempt to get away with it. Based on the tactics the president has used in the past, it is assumed that he thought they would work again.
When negotiating, always consider the whole mind of the other negotiator. You may not know everything that went into the makeup of the mindset you possess, but the more you know, the better your chances of crafting a winning trading strategy…and all will be well with the world.
Remember, you are always negotiating!
