Is negotiating an art form that depends on innate talent, or can it be learnt by developing skills based on theories and models? Igor Ryzov has been a professional negotiator for 20 years, and argues that both aspects are equally important. There are many people who show a natural propensity for negotiation, and who always succeed in achieving their objectives, but there are also methods we can use to develop our skills, as indicated by the many training courses available on the subject. In order to be successful negotiators, we must be aware of theoretical, as well as practical strategies. As one example, Ryzov writes of his personal experience as a karateka when he was still a student. He and his teammates were well aware that they were competent fighters, having won many competitions, and so didn’t think twice about getting in a fight one night with a group of street kids. Yet, the author and his friends suffered a crushing defeat, because they lacked experience, and up until then, had only ever fought according to the rules, and in a protected setting.
So our approach to negotiation must combine both the lessons we have learnt from experience, as well as theoretical strategies. Ryzov begins by analysing the principles taught in one of the world’s toughest schools, the Kremlin, whose techniques were also extremely familiar to Andrej Andreevič Gromyko, the Russian ambassador to the USA from 1943 to 1946. Known in the West as “Mr Nyet”, meaning “Mr No”, Gromyko’s only goal was to prevent Russian interests from being manipulated. One of his mottos was “better ten years of negotiations than one day of war”, which is proof of his commitment to the process.
