Effective Negotiation: Remaining Calm and Nimble During Difficult Conversations - Derek Gaunt

Negotiations can be uncomfortable, difficult and even contentious. Former Hostage Negotiator Derek Gaunt, author of “Ego, Authority, Failure”, teaches business leaders to gain trust and negotiate evenly when emotions are running high. 

Every difficult conversation is a guided discovery process. -Derek Gaunt  

Takeaways + Tactics 

• A negotiation is nothing more than a difficult conversation. Discomfort and negative emotions impede our ability to cognitively process that which is in front of us.
  
• Awkwardness promotes accelerated learning because it forces the brain to focus more. When feeling awkward, our brain is telling us there’s no synaptic connection developed for the skill. 
   
• Most of us are intermittent or rebuttal listeners. We get so focused on the threat, demand or request, that we don’t try to find out which is driving it. 
  
• It is impossible to be angry and afraid if you’re genuinely curious about what the other side has to say.
  

Guest Bio 

Derek is a lecturer, expert negotiation trainer, coach at Black Swan Group and author of Ego, Authority, Failure: Using Emotional Intelligence Like a Hostage Negotiator to Succeed as a Leader. 

He has 29 years of law enforcement experience - 20 of which as a team member, leader, and then commander of hostage negotiations teams in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. He is a hostage negotiation and incident command subject matter expert who frequently speaks at hostage negotiations and SWAT conferences across the country. As a member of the Black Swan Group, he is a negotiation trainer and personal coach. Derek has trained throughout the US and around the world, instructing business organizations on how to apply hostage negotiations practices and principles to their world. Derek presents seminars and in-house training programs in a variety of environments. His presentations are engaging and filled with useful techniques for understanding human behavior and navigating difficult conversations. His training has helped leaders and their organizations increase their performance by changing the way they think about communicating one person to another. 

For more information visit https://www.blackswanltd.com/ and buy his book Ego, Authority, Failure: Using Emotional Intelligence Like a Hostage Negotiator to Succeed as a Leader here.

 

Learn More About Your Host:

Co-founder and Managing Partner for Northstar Group, Craig is focused on recruiting senior level leadership, sales and operations executives for some of the most prominent companies in the aviation and aerospace industry. Clients include well known aircraft OEM’s, aircraft operators, leasing / financial organizations, and Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul (MRO) providers. 

Since 2009 Craig has personally concluded more than 150 executive searches in a variety of disciplines. As the only executive recruiter who has flown airplanes, sold airplanes AND run a business, Craig is uniquely positioned to build deep, lasting relationships with both executives and the boards and stakeholders they serve. This allows him to use a detailed, disciplined process that does more than pair the ideal candidate with the perfect opportunity, and hit the business goals of the companies he serves.