Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

network at headquarters between the semiconductor and
consumer products divisions.
“So it sounds like you could approve my new position
no matter which division, as long as I was in headquarters
and could help you communicate better with the top
managers.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I must admit I need your help in
headquarters.”
My student realized he had made a breakthrough. Not
only had his ex-boss uttered those sweet words—“that’s
right”—but he had revealed his true motive: he needed an
ally in headquarters.
“Is there any other help you need?” he asked.
“Let me tell you everything,” the ex-boss responded.
It turns out his former superior would be up for a
promotion to vice president in two years. He desperately
wanted to move up into this job. He needed someone in
headquarters to lobby the company CEO.
“I would help you in any way,” my student said. “But I
could help with the networking and also talk you up to the
CEO even if I were at headquarters with the consumer
products division, right?”
“That’s right,” he said. “If you get an offer from the
consumer products unit, I will approve it.”
Bingo! By asking questions that got him to “that’s right,”
my student had achieved his goal. He also got his boss to
reveal two “Black Swans,” the unspoken, underlying
breakthrough dynamics of a negotiation (explored in more