wrong guy. He admitted that his division was a mess and
he’d have to hand things off to somebody else to get the
deal done.
And he did. It took more than a year to get the deal
signed, but they did it.
OBSERVE UNGUARDED MOMENTS
While you have to get face time, formal business meetings,
structured encounters, and planned negotiating sessions are
often the least revealing kinds of face time because these are
the moments when people are at their most guarded.
Hunting for Black Swans is also effective during
unguarded moments at the fringes, whether at meals like my
client had with his Coca-Cola contact, or the brief moments
of relaxation before or after formal interactions.
During a typical business meeting, the first few minutes,
before you actually get down to business, and the last few
moments, as everyone is leaving, often tell you more about
the other side than anything in between. That’s why
reporters have a credo to never turn off their recorders: you
always get the best stuff at the beginning and the end of an
interview.
Also pay close attention to your counterpart during
interruptions, odd exchanges, or anything that interrupts the
flow. When someone breaks ranks, people’s façades crack
just a little. Simply noticing whose cracks and how others
respond verbally and nonverbally can reveal a gold mine.