Sunday, March 6, 2011

"Getting More" - A Negotiation Bible by Prof. Stuart Diamond at Wharton



Please allow me to introduce a very exciting new book titled "Getting More: How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World". It is authored by Professor Stuart Diamond at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Did you ever feel frustrated by a tough negotiation? Did you ever wish you could have negotiated a better deal for yourself? I know I certainly did. I'm a chemist by training. For a long time, dealing with molecules was a lot easier than negotiating with people. I hated negotiation, partially because I didn't like confrontation and partially because I preferred "take it or leave it". Haggling was out of the question for a guy like me.

There are probably a few lucky people among us who were born to be super good at negotiation. Good for them! But for the rest of us, we can still acquire and improve our negotiation skill by building awareness and finding the right way of training ourselves. Whether you agree (or still decide if you want to agree), please read on. :o)

In my personal experience, taking the negotiation course with Professor Stuart Diamond at Wharton has totally changed my view of negotiation. From job search to relocation to my current job in venture capital investment, again and again his negotiation techniques helped me and my friends a big time.

- Two months ago, AT&T billed me $300 for my international roaming during a recent trip to Europe. With Prof. Diamond's negotiation approach, I ended up paying $30 only for the roaming.
- Four months ago, a friend was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol for speeding. Before she had to appear in court, I shared with her a couple thoughts borrowed from Prof. Diamond's class. The next day she told me her fine was significantly reduced from the original amount (by 50% as I vaguely remember).
- Fifteen months ago, my landlord agreed to charge me $500 less, after I convinced him I would bring a great deal of intangible value to his house.
- Two years ago, a classmate used Prof. Diamond's negotiation framework and got herself extra $20k for base salary.
- Of course, negotiation doesn't always involve $$. In Prof. Diamond's own case, he didn't force his son to brush his teeth but asked him which tooth brush to pick, blue or green. The boy felt empowered with the choice he could make and joyfully picked one - everybody was happy.

Professor Stuart Diamond is THE most popular professor at Wharton. His negotiation class has always been oversubscribed by the Wharton MBAs. Outside Wharton, he has been invited to teach at Fortune 100 companies across the world (such as Google, but I heard it could take a year to get a slot in his work shop).

Now you know THE BEST NEWS of this week - you don't have to go to Wharton or bid for those exclusive workshops to learn from Prof. Diamond. His new book "Getting More" is a negotiation bible that been distilled from years of real-world negotiation and teaching of negotiation. For $14.99, you can get a copy from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Getting-More-Negotiate-Achieve-Goals/dp/0307716899/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t).

Yes, I'm shamelessly promoting my professor and his new book, because I've personally benefited from his class. His teaching has made me a lot more effective in both career and life. I ordered the book for myself as reference; I certainly want to continue improving my own negotiation skill. I'm positive you'll find Prof. Diamond's book helpful and insightful to your career and life too.

Thanks for reading.

1 comment:

小婕 said...

Thanks for sharing :)