Heen: Asking questions to understand counterparty interests is essential for effective negotiation
Sheila Heen · #57 Sheila Heen: Decoding Difficult Conversations · May 15, 2019 · at 8:14
Harvard Law School negotiation lecturer Sheila Heen explains how teaching perspective-taking and second-position skills helps people craft mutually beneficial agreements.
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“You're trying to teach them what we would call second position skills. Can you step into someone else's shoes and imagine what the world looks like to them and what they care about and what their priorities are? And not that you're supposed to guess accurately, but ask them questions. Learn as much as you can. Because that's what's going to help you craft an option that meets your own interests as well as the other person's.”
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