Chapter 11 Grading His Personal Negotiation Skills: As, Bs, or …?
Chapter 12 Ethics and “Alternative Facts”
Part Three: The Trump Transition—Business to Presidential Negotiations
Chapter 13 Business v. Presidential Negotiations: Comparing the Boardroom and the Oval Office
Chapter 14 The U.S.-Mexican Border Negotiation
Chapter 15 The “Repeal-and-Replace Obamacare” Negotiation
“Donald Trump is the greatest dealmaker our country’s ever seen.” 1
— Corey Lewandowski
Trump for President Campaign Manager
What motivates U.S. President Donald J. Trump, the most powerful man in the world? Millions of Americans and billions throughout the world are still trying to figure this out. We have heard his speeches, debates, interviews, tweets, promises, and press conferences. And we’ve watched him demolish his Republican opponents, beat Hillary Clinton, spar with the “enemy of the people” media, careen his way through his first year in office, appear “presidential” in his first State of the Union address, and upend almost all political conventions and expectations.
Many have been shocked and surprised. But we shouldn’t be. Why not? Because for almost 50 years Donald Trump has consistently focused on one activity to the exclusion of almost anything else: negotiating and making deals. It’s a core element of his identity—and it largely explains his behavior. How has he negotiated? By:
– Interacting with his prep school classmates on the playground;
– Learning the residential real estate business at the feet of his dad;
– Building his commercial and residential New York-based real estate empire;
– Partnering with major financial institutions to fund his business activities;
– Buying a pro football team;
– Running casinos and dealing with New Jersey gaming regulators;
– Obtaining relief from mountains of debt owed to huge financial institutions;
– Filing, defending, litigating, settling, and trying thousands of lawsuits with partners, customers, and subcontractors;
– Creating and licensing a worldwide luxury brand with foreign investors and partners;
– Judging and firing celebrities and wannabe business titans on NBC’s hit reality TV series The Apprentice;
– Hiring and managing thousands of employees; and
– Publicly and privately interacting with three wives and five kids.
Of course, everyone negotiates. Whether you’re buying a car, selling a house, working with a business partner, or trying to convince your seven-year-old to go to bed, you’re negotiating. Whenever two or more individuals are communicating, and each has interests to satisfy, they’re negotiating.
Some do it brilliantly from birth. Others spend years studying it, learning from successes and failures, and improving based on the experts’ proven research. Most largely wing it and negotiate instinctively and intuitively.
What does Donald Trump do? He believes “dealmaking is an ability you’re born with. It’s in the genes.” 2 Are his negotiation genes good? Have they worked? And how have they worked in presidential negotiations? That’s our goal—to find out.
Here’s the deal. Donald Trump has a well-documented track record of hundreds of negotiations. Let’s analyze them—and this self-professed great negotiator—through the lens of negotiation research.
We will then:
better understand how well he will negotiate as President, and
learn from his successes and failures and be empowered to more effectively negotiate ourselves.
But first we need to be clear on the parameters of this effort.
Science Matters—Not Politics
Some will undoubtedly discount the analysis and conclusions here based on their political persuasion. Others will feel validated. The goal here is neither to offend nor affirm. Instead, it is to inform and to educate about the negotiation strengths and weaknesses of the most powerful man in the world.
The 1981 publication of Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by my Harvard Law School Professor Roger Fisher and William Ury3 inspired thousands to flood into the new field of negotiation. Today almost every college, business school, and law school offer negotiation courses. And thousands of professors now teach and study this fundamental life skill.
The result? We now basically know what fundamental strategies work. And these building blocks are supported by solid science. These tenets will serve as the framework for our analysis.
Of course, some negotiation professors will undoubtedly disagree on the extent of this consensus. That is the nature of academics. As a result, I asked two of the world’s leading negotiation professors to review and comment on the fundamental nature of the negotiation science underlying this analysis. Importantly, I did not ask them to agree with my analysis or conclusions, just the science. Each of the following confirmed our basic building blocks.
– Professor Roy Lewicki, Irving Abramowitz Memorial Professor Emeritus and Professor of Management and Human Resources Emeritus at the Max M. Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, and the author or editor of 39 negotiation-related books, including the bestselling negotiation textbook in business schools around the world.
– Professor Andrea Schneider, Professor of Law, Marquette University Law School, and the author or co-author of numerous dispute resolution books, including Dispute Resolution: Examples and Explanations with Michael Moffitt and, with Roger Fisher, Beyond Machiavelli: Tools for Coping with Conflict and Coping with International Conflict.
Science matters—and this book is based upon research confirmed by the best and brightest in the negotiation field.
Trump’s Actions Speak Louder than His Words
Donald Trump expounds on his negotiation strategies in many of his books. He also has an extensive and well-documented record of interviews and statements relating to his deals. His words matter.
But to accurately capture the essence and full breadth of Trump’s negotiation approach, we will also analyze how his negotiation colleagues, partners, and counterparts describe his strategies and tactics. The negotiation process always involves more than one party. And the strategies one uses are often viewed differently depending on where one sits.
Plus, in many negotiations it’s more important to consider what someone does versus what they say. We’ve all heard that “actions speak louder than words.” It’s especially crucial here as bluffing and puffery—strategies that put a negotiator’s credibility on the chopping block—are