Negotiating for Your Life

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Schapiro made the deal of her life when at 15 she dissuaded a soldier from executing her during the Hungarian uprising of 1956. The author, now a management consultant, successfully argues that people can create options for themselves through personal negotiating. In this sprightly, useful work, Schapiro urges thinking beyond the limitations of one's culture and suggests that almost everything in life is negotiable. Although she focuses on women, much of what she says is equally applicable to men. Her descriptions of several personality types and prescriptions for getting through to them, ring true--e.g., give datacrats details and keep conversation short with driven types while bantering with social butterflies about other people before getting down to business. There is also sound advice about the settings: where and when to make deals, whether to drink and eat and what to wear. Since the ultimate goal is winning the negotiation, Schapiro is not above suggesting that women should use their sex appeal--up to a point. ``If your attractiveness to someone else assists you in getting and keeping their attention, so much the better.'' Also included are exercises to prepare for a negotiation and techniques for rating one's bargaining skills. Aug.

Barbara Jacobs

With wit and wisdom and an abundance of common sense, Schapiro shows women the error of their ways in refusing or not knowing how to compromise for mutual benefit. The same kind of philosophy as that underscoring the notion of customer service is at work here--one that says building relationships is the heart of negotiation. To facilitate a positive interchange and results, Schapiro provides a typology of personalities (including "steamroller," "datacrat," "butterfly," and "Mr./Ms. Nice Guy"), as well as sample dialogues and exercises to complete. The reader learns to deal with the importance of time, place, and agenda and about scenario anticipation, goal-setting, and image and appearance, among other relevant topics. The second book in the National Association of Female Executives Professional Library series.