Synopsis
Whether you are seeking a building permit from city hall or a multimillion dollar contract from the U.S. Defense Department, you have to negotiate to get what you want. Although governments around the world employ millions of people whose stated jobs are to rigidly "regulate," "authorize," "direct," or "approve" transactions with the public, the secret is that all governments will negotiate with you about anything if you know how to approach them. Rather than sitting hat-in-hand, waiting for a government decision, effective proactive negotiation will enable you make the kind of profitable deals with governments that will maximize your interests. Seven Secrets for Negotiating with Government gives you the tools you need to come out ahead in dealing with all government offices from a village council to a presidential palace. Negotiating with a government is not like negotiating with private persons and companies. For one thing, governments have special powers that no private person has, but they are also subject to special constraints in the way they use those powers. For another, governments pursue very different interests in negotiations from those that a private company might seek. A first and fundamental challenge for any person negotiating with a government is to understand those special powers, constraints, and interests, and to use them in shaping a winning strategy. With the right guidance, you can prepare for, meet, and succeed at the difficult challenges of dealing with government departments at all levels - and walk away from the table a winner. As a chaired professor and former Dean of the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University and a faculty member of the Harvard Project on Negotiation, Jeswald Salacuse is a widely recognized expert in the field of negotiation. In this book, he explains how to understand and analyze the often hidden interests driving government negotiators and how to use that knowledge to achieve your goals. The only book of its kind, Seven Secrets for Negotiating with Government offers realistic and accessible advice whether you are asking a local government official for permission to hold a block party or a Chinese ministry to start a business in Shanghai. Using real-world examples drawn from City Hall to the Sudan, Salacuse reveals:
• Ways to gain access to government officials and organizations
• A seven-step system for getting ready to negotiate with governments
• How to determine and use government interests to your advantage
• Power tools for influencing government decisions
• Methods for developing productive working relationships with government regulators affecting your business
• The best way to secure government permits
• When to use third parties like advisors and mediators in government negotiations The government may have more power than you, but it does not necessarily have the upper hand. This invaluable book provides the power tools that will help anyone level the playing field and achieve even the toughest goals. Jeswald W. Salacuse is Henry J. Braker Professor of Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Formerly Dean of the Fletcher School and of the Southern Methodist University School of Law, he has practiced law with a Wall Street law firm, directed a research institute in the Congo, has been president of professional organizations, and served as a Ford Foundation executive in the Middle East and Africa. He has spent fifteen years living abroad, and has observed firsthand, as well as participated directly in, negotiations in over fifty countries. He is a member of the faculty of the Harvard Program on Negotiation, and regularly teaches negotiation to executives and lawyers in major corporations and firms. A director of several mutual funds listed on the New York Stock Exchange and president of an international arbitration tribunal, Salacuse is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served as a consultant to multinational corporations, universities, law firms, and international organizations. His books include Leading Leaders, The Global Negotiator, The Wise Advisor, and Making Global Deals. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.