The Pitfalls of Positional Bargaining & What to Do Instead

A woman speaking to a group at an art gallery illustrates positional bargaining

When we approach a conflict, most of us instinctively default to positional bargaining, a “dig in your heels” tactic where each side fights for a rigid demand. While common in everything from used car sales to international diplomacy, this tug-of-war approach often leads to stalled agreements and damaged relationships. According to negotiation theorists Roger Fisher and William Ury, the key to a successful outcome isn’t playing “hard” or “soft,” but shifting toward a strategy that prioritizes mutual gain and objective fairness. This article explores why positional bargaining fails to meet the three criteria of a wise negotiation: efficiency, efficacy, and

What Is a BATNA? Your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement

Two men shaking hands (only their arms are visible) illustrate a best alternative to negotiated agreement (BATNA)

When entering a high-stakes negotiation, many people default to positional bargaining, where each side stakes out a rigid stance and haggles toward a middle ground. This approach often leads to inefficient compromises or stalled talks, leaving you vulnerable if the other party has more resources or influence. To break this cycle and secure a truly advantageous deal, you must look beyond your starting price and identify your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA). Strategic preparation involves more than just setting a “bottom line” that could limit your creativity. By establishing a clear fallback option, you gain the leverage necessary

Interest-Based Bargaining: Focus on the “Why” Behind the Proposal

A balance scale with a block labeled WIN on each side illustrates interest-based bargaining

Traditional “dig in your heels” negotiations often lead to deadlocks and damaged relationships. Adopting interest-based bargaining allows you to move beyond rigid demands by focusing on the underlying “why” behind every proposal. By prioritizing mutual problem-solving over conflict, you can unlock creative solutions that satisfy all parties while maintaining long-term professional value. This modern approach, promoted by negotiation theorists Roger Fisher and William Ury, provides a strategic framework for achieving win-win outcomes. Whether you’re navigating a corporate contract or a simple workplace dispute, understanding the core principles of interest-based bargaining ensures you reach more efficient, fair, and sustainable agreements.

Adaptive Leadership Style: Always on Guard

A man in a business suit pointing and showing an adaptive leadership style

An adaptive leadership style is a leadership approach oriented towards tackling adaptive problems—challenges that are brought about by unexpected circumstances, that have no known solutions, and that require a fundamental change to solve. Leaders who adopt an adaptive leadership style constantly assess the landscape within which they operate and the adaptive capacity of their organization to make sure they have what it takes to adapt effectively. In this article, we’ll take a look at the three main qualities of adaptive problems, the traits of adaptive leaders, and some tips for practicing an adaptive leadership style.

The 3 Steps for Assessing Adaptive Challenges

Leadership: What are the Major Traits of a Good Leader

Adaptive challenges are problems with unknown solutions which, by definition, require a fundamental change in order to be solved. There are two steps to solving such challenges: 1) diagnosis, and 2) treatment. In The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky recommend that you start by examining your organization to determine what resources you have available and what obstacles you might anticipate. Then, examine the challenge itself. In the article below, we’ll outline their recommendations for both.

6 Adaptive Interventions in Leadership: Adapt or Fail

Scrabble pieces that read "adapt or fail"

When your organization is facing changing conditions or never-before-seen challenges, the only way to survive is to adapt. Adaptive interventions are measures put in place to address “adaptive challenges”—unexpected problems with no known solutions. You can launch an adaptive intervention at any moment of tackling the adaptive challenge, whether that’s during diagnosis or while another intervention is ongoing. In The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky offer practical strategies to help leaders navigate these kinds of complex challenges.

Relationship Management & Emotional Intelligence

Relationship Management & Emotional Intelligence

Relationship management is your ability to use self-awareness, self-management, and social awareness together to build and maintain strong connections with others. According to Bradberry and Greaves in Emotional Intelligence 2.0, this skill allows you to have difficult conversations without damaging trust, give feedback people actually hear, and resolve conflicts in ways that strengthen relationships. Here are 17 tactics to improve your relationship management.

Getting Through Organizational Conflict: The 8 Steps + More

A chess board representing organizational conflict

Adaptive challenges often pit values and perspectives against each other. In The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky advise that you don’t suppress this conflict—instead, openly discuss it so everyone can see all disagreements. Openly discussing organizational conflict not only helps get everyone on the same page, but it’s also an important way to surface potential problems. Let’s look at a number of ways you can encourage competing parties to discuss their perspectives openly.

Behind the Cloud by Marc Benioff and Carlye Adler (Overview)

A Salesforce sign hanging on a building with glass windows

Marc Benioff didn’t just build another software company—he revolutionized how businesses access and use technology by pioneering the “Software-as-a-Service” model that now powers a $150 billion industry. In Behind the Cloud, Salesforce founder Marc Benioff reveals how he transformed enterprise software from expensive, months-long installations into simple web-based tools that companies could start using immediately for a monthly subscription fee. Benioff shares how Salesforce survived the dot-com crash, converted users into evangelists, and scaled globally while maintaining its revolutionary culture. Here’s our book overview.

The Friction Project: Book Overview and Takeaways

A manager working at their desk

Do you want to fix the slowdowns, bottlenecks, and everyday hassles that drain organizations? How do you know when friction is a costly drag versus a helpful safeguard? In their book The Friction Project, Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao answer those questions by giving you a clear path for diagnosing, reducing, or adding friction so your team can work smarter and avoid avoidable frustration. This article will discuss the authors’ advice on becoming a friction fixer. First, we’ll explain what friction is, its costs, and its benefits. Then, we’ll discuss how to determine an appropriate level of friction for