Colin Powell the Negotiator I: Best Practices from Successful Dealmaking and Dispute Resolution
Description
In 2015, before a rapt Harvard audience, Colin Powell recounted his poignant and incredible life story and career with me and my colleagues Bob Mnookin and Nick Burns. Interwoven into his remarkable accounts were lessons drawn from profound success and deep failure in negotiation. In this week's episode of Dealcraft: Insights from the World's Great Negotiators, I share three short examples of success from these conversations with Powell:
Dealing with Vladimir Putin over the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
Negotiating with the Chinese government in a tense incident over the release of the crew of a U.S. spy plane that crash-landed on a Chinese island
Mediating an impending conflict between Spain and Morocco that threatened to escalate into a confrontation between the EU and the Arab League
Via these three examples, I extract a number of best practices for successful dealmaking, negotiation, dispute resolution, and leadership, gleaned from Powell’s distinguished 40-year career in the military and State Department. In the weeks to come, I will continue to explore
these rich, powerful, and sometimes painful stories of negotiation from my time interviewing Secretary Powell.
About Dealcraft
For decades, I've practiced, researched, advised high-level clients, and taught effective approaches to complex negotiations. These experiences led me to create Dealcraft. I welcome you to join me as I interview some of the world’s greatest dealmakers and diplomats to share fascinating deal stories and distill practical insights for listeners to apply in their own toughest negotiations. You’ll find a 3-minute trailer and fuller description of Dealcraft’s first season here.
Host: James K. Sebenius
Co-Producers: Alex Green and Avery Moore Kloss
Outreach: Podglomerate
Materials courtesy of the American Secretaries of State Program, a joint effort of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Program on the Future of Diplomacy at Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.
In the final episode of Season One of Dealcraft: Insights from the World's Great Negotiators, I’ll offer you several fresh negotiation insights plus a look back over the dealmakers and diplomats from whom we've heard during these last twelve weeks. Each of these negotiators has given us a master...
Published 11/18/24
Sadly, Colin Powell is best remembered in many quarters for deploying his immense personal prestige in giving what became his infamous speech at the United Nations. This speech purported to reveal evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, thereby building support for the disastrous U.S....
Published 11/11/24