On July 29, 2021, WTA’s Simon Greathead lead a training on International Negotiations for Global Markets. As an associate professor at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Business, Greathead is highly experienced in teaching negotiation strategies and lead the seminar with practical stories and examples.
Greathead began the training with a story:
“There was a man in the Middle East who left to his 3 sons 17 camels. To the oldest son, he left half of the camels. To the second son, he left a third of the camels. To the youngest son, he left a ninth of the camels. Well, 17 doesn’t divide by a half, it doesn’t divide by a third, and it doesn’t divide by a ninth. The 3 sons went to a wise old woman and said, ‘how do we separate these camels between us?’ To which the wise old woman said, ‘I don’t really know the answer to that question, but I do have an extra camel I can give you.’ The wise old woman gave them one camel. Now they have 18 camels. Well, 18 divides by half, 18 divides by a third—it's 6—and 18 does divide by a ninth. 9 + 6 + 2 is 17 camels. They gave the one camel back to the wise old woman.”
Titled “The Eighteenth Camel,” Greathead’s story serves as a foundation for the training. When “I teach negotiations at BYU, I express to my students that it's your job to find the 18th camel in life, and that 18th camel is the golden goose to solve the world's problems. There is always an 18th camel [but] our personalities get in the way [and] our inability to think critically gets in the way of finding the 18th camel.”
Subsequentially, Greathead introduces negotiation to the age-old argument: nature or nurture. He concludes that competent negotiators are a mix of both, but what is more important is their ability to express and control both emotional intelligence (EQ) and logical thinking (IQ).
Another skill that negotiators have is the ability to correctly choose between what author and psychologist Daniel Kahneman calls “System 1 and System 2…System 1…is emotionally driven. It tends to be the fast part of our brain.” In Kahneman’s book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, he states that System 1 is “our initial response to stimuli.” As a parent, Greathead has learned to overcome System 1 reactions and respond to his children with System 2 replies and reactions. If he does not agree with something his son says, Greathead is now more patient and rational in responding to him.
Greathead then discussed irrational expectations in negotiations. There are 2 steps to overcoming these types of interactions:
- Educating dialogue. Find the why.
- Creating rationality based on this new information.
As an example, Greathead used a software company and their client. If the company needs the software in a much shorter time than originally anticipated, the software developers cannot finish the product; however, by asking why their client needs the software in such a short amount of time, the software company can then come up with a rational solution. In this case, their client wanted to launch a marketing campaign soon. Instead of producing and utilizing the new software, the software company just needed to launch a marketing module. The software company had found the 18th camel by simply asking why.
Lastly, Greathead taught the difference in and importance of distributive and integrative negotiating. A distributive approach, Greathead explains, strictly sticks to the boundaries of a fixed pie. As a result of not negotiating possible ways to expand the pie, both parties do not get their intended outcome. With an integrative approach, negotiators utilize the tools Greathead previously mentioned such as EQ vs. IQ and System 1 vs. System 2. By demonstrating self-control and patience, negotiators can find the 18th camel and land a deal that satisfies both parties.
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