I am delighted to announce Russell’s new book to all. The Five Tool Negotiator: The Complete Guide to Bargaining Success officially ships as of yesterday and I am looking forward to getting my hands on this in print! Having seen this grow from a kernel of an idea to now having a full book is very exciting. And, as a baseball fan, I love the concept of using five tools to organize your thinking before a negotiation. As the book notes,
Baseball scouts prowl the globe for what are known as “five-tool” players: athletes with superior ability to hit for average, hit for power, field, throw, and run the bases. Five-tool baseball players are outstanding in all facets of the game. Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and the young Mickey Mantle (before knee problems slowed him) are generally considered the best five-tool players of all time. Each of these legends led his team to World Series championships.
Negotiation, like baseball, is a game in which success is achieved by using five, and only five, tools. Fortunately for most of us, none of them requires the ability to hit a big-league curveball. These tools are the keys to winning at the bargaining table in any league; that is, they are the same whether your goal in negotiating is an eight-figure corporate merger with a CEO, a seven-figure lawsuit settlement with a lawyer, a six-figure sales agreement with a purchasing agent, a five-figure Lexus with an automobile dealer, a four-figure raise with your boss, or even a workable bedtime with your child. By understanding how these tools work, anyone who negotiates in a business, professional, consumer, or family capacity can develop the depth of knowledge and the tactical flexibility to outperform the competition.
With many chapters under each of these, the five tools are Bargaining Zone Analysis, Persuasion, Deal Design, Power and Fairness Norms. The five tools build perfectly upon Russell’s oft-cited and excerpted research that we all know and love. The fun for us is now we have real-world stories and examples to demonstrate how each tool is used. And, let mr just note, the website is gorgeous so kudos for pulling that off as well!
