Coursera Negotiation Notes

Thoughts On Life

I took a class on Negotiation from Coursera and I found it very helpful.  Below are my notes from the course.  

Categories of Negotiation: Power, Litigation (3rd party arbitration), Arbitration, Mediation (3rd party negotiation), Negotiation, Avoidance

When Negotiating, Be Sure to Ask for Authority: Explicit, Implicit, Apparent. Does the person you are negotiating with have the authority to execute what you are negotiating?

Get Authority from the Principal, not the Agent of the Principal.  The person negotiating with you will be able to say they have authority, but you only know for sure when you talk to the person who owns or controls the item(s) of interest.

Fraud (A false representation of a matter of fact that is materially relied upon), Fiduciary, Unconscionable

When Negotiating, these are Pitfalls to Avoid:

  1. Mythical Fixed Pie Assumption
  2. Anchoring
  3. Overconfidence
  4. Framing (more risk averse when choosing between positive options, more risky when choosing between negative options)
  5. Availability
  6. Escalation (Competitive Arousal)
  7. Reciprocation
  8. Contrast Principle
  9. Big-Picture Perspective: Don’t get lost in the details

Agreement validity (what it takes for the agreement to be valid under the law)

  • There must be consideration: both sides must give up something (in common law countries, not necessary in civil law countries but good to just in case)
  • Legality
  • In CA, non-compete for 1 year contracts are illegal and unenforceable

Parol Evidence Rule: Once the agreement is in writing, only what is in the writing will count, nothing discussed before/prior/considered.  Therefore, get everything in writing.

Implied in contract of food sale is that the food is not spoiled; can take back to grocery stores for replacement or sue

If the relationship is long term, then you can have a shorter contract so that you can be more flexible with each other; if the relationship is short term, then you should have a longer contract to specify all terms

 

Life Goals Analysis (to think about before negotiations)

To complete this analysis, ask yourself: How does this dispute (or deal) relate to my goals in life? When preparing your list of life goals, consider the following possibilities:

  1. Family goals. Do you want to spend more time with your family? How will you spend that time?
  2. Leisure goals. What do you enjoy doing when you aren’t at work?
  3. Retirement goals. When do you plan to retire and what will you do during retirement?
  4. Financial goals. What are your financial plans and how will you achieve them?
  5. Business and career goals. Do you have any plans to start a business or move to a new job?
  6. Relationship goals. Do you anticipate any changes in your personal relationships?
  7. Service goals. Any plans to increase your community service?

 

http://negotiationplanner.com/ – Course inspired Website / App

Other Resources

http://blog.codetree.com/articles/what-its-like-buying-a-128k-side-project.html

Google: sales tactics for budget is cut: https://www.sandler.com/blog/how-do-you-respond-to-your-clients-budget-objections

This post is part of AttemptedLiving’s Life Education Curriculum, a collection of core knowledge everyone should have.

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Life Lessons May 2014 Part 1

Life Lessons
Priority and Short Sightedness.  I have the idea in my mind that I must do what is optimal for everyone else’s happiness at all times, especially for friends and family. However, this makes friends feel like I’m overthinking and/or overworrying sometimes because I’m constantly thinking about them and evaluating them to know what to say. And if I say or do anything that they didn’t respond well to, suddenly I’m worried and I try to change my behavior and remember it for the future.  This is too much: There is an amount of respect you should have for someone and it is good to wish happiness upon them, but you shouldn’t completely stifle who you are. I have been starting to feel like I can’t be who I am around my friends because I am too conscious of what they are thinking and feeling and what they like and such.  Just be who you are.  When you OFFEND, THEN scale back according to who you are.  Prior to offending them, it’s OK to be yourself–people are accepting, and if not then they’ll talk to you about how you bothered them if they are mature and it’s worth their time to (which is the case if they’re your friend, and usually not the case if they’re strangers. So to improve yourself, make friends so that they can give you feedback).
However, the real problem is that I treat all events of happiness and unhappiness with equal priority: if I accidentally spill water on a friend I treat that as equal to accidentally discouraging and crushing their dreams with poorly chosen words.  They are not the same, and recognizing when it is important to scale back and when it is unnecessary is important: not spilling water is preferable but not a big deal, not crushing your friend’s self esteem is very important. Secondly, I am not looking at the bigger picture: a spilled water once in a while is a normal occurrence and won’t be remembered long term.  Consistently spilling water every day and then it’s a problem.  
Often, the solution is NOT to answer the question “Why am I unhappy” so much as it is “what can I do to be happy.”  Don’t spend too much time thinking about why you’re unhappy–if you can figure it out, great, fix it, but if you can’t don’t stress over it or get stuck pondering the question.  Just keep looking for and doing things that make you happy and then you will become happy.  Also, you can’t think clearly if you are in a bad emotional state, so seek first to improve your mood before thinking about why you are unhappy, because while you are unhappy you may be blind to what is actually making you unhappy, and it is only after you escape the situation and look back in hindsight that you can recognize what it was that made you unhappy.
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Family Finances

Life Education

As of 2015, the USA IRS allows an annual contribution of $14,000 to an investment fund dedicated to funding a beneficiary’s education (typically a child or grandchild).  See 529 Plans Q&As on the IRS website.

This post is part of AttemptedLiving’s Life Education Curriculum, a collection of core knowledge everyone should have.

To find out when those posts, and other life education writing, are released, subscribe on the side! Follow on Twitter, on Facebook, on Google+, on Tumblr.