Station 4 Negotiation

This week on S4N, Gene uses Taylor Swift’s legendary dispute over her master recordings to explore what really happens when business partnerships break down – and what you can do when the system isn’t built to favor you.

It’s a story packed with high emotion, high stakes, and a surprising amount of strategic brilliance. But beneath the headlines is a case study in how leverage is built, how it shifts, an...

What can a Russian political prisoner teach you about winning in the boardroom?

This week on S4N, we explore the bold persuasion tactics of Alexei Navalny... and what they reveal about power, leverage, and conviction in business. Navalny’s fearless strategy wasn’t about compromise. It was about clarity, ethics, and calling out the game while still playing to win.

This week on S4N, Gene dissects the high-stakes world of NFL draft day negotiations through the cautionary tale of Shedeur Sanders – rising quarterback and son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. What unfolds when raw talent, family legacy, and unshakable self-belief crash headfirst into the cold, calculated machinery of a billion-dollar sports business?

Having watched Shedeur’s draft stock inexplicably plum...

This week on S4N, Gene opens with Tennyson’s "Charge of the Light Brigade" and the fatal consequences of a misunderstood order, drawing a direct line from Crimea in 1854 to the high-stakes negotiations at Yalta in 1945 – to the boardrooms of today. With Ukraine and Crimea once again in the headlines, we explore how blind obedience, unchecked egos, and behind-the-scenes power plays helped shape the modern world – and w...

What happens when you try to silence a whistleblower? The whistles get louder.

This week on S4N, Gene digs into the explosive story behind Careless People, Sarah Wynn-Williams’s courageous exposé of her years behind the scenes at Facebook – plus the high-stakes negotiations, ethical dilemmas, and intense resistance she faced from one of the world’s most powerful companies.

Drawing from the ...

What are the 3 P’s of negotiation? Preparation, preparation, and… oh yeah, preparation. This week on S4N, Gene dives into one of the most critical – and most overlooked – building blocks of negotiation success: thorough preparation. With over 40 years in the field, Gene explores how and why skipping this step has led to more failed deals than any other misstep he’s seen – and how you can avoid the same pitfalls.

Donald Trump insists that he won the 2020 election. Barack Obama stated that the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate wasn’t a tax when, in effect, it was. Nancy Pelosi famously declared, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it.” George W. Bush used questionable facts to justify the war in Iraq. If there’s one truth, it’s that politicians often misrepresent it, which raises the question: why?

This week on S4N, as whispers of another economic downturn grow louder, Gene dives into the 2008 financial crisis and turns his attention to one of the most pivotal moments in financial history – the collapse of Lehman Brothers. We’ve talked a lot on S4N about knowing your BATNA and being willing to walk away from a deal – but what if your only option is to get the deal done? What went wrong in the final negotiations ...

On S4N, Gene usually steers clear of covering live negotiations – too much could be happening behind the scenes. But on Friday, the world got to watch the dramatic events that unfolded in the Oval Office as President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came face-to-face in a tense and high-stakes meeting. What started as a crucial diplomatic discussion quickly turned into a show...

What do you want? A simple question, but one that people often forget to answer before going into a negotiation. In a new application of Morgan Housel's bestselling book The Psychology of Money, Gene breaks down the factors that contribute to what people want and their impact on the dealmaking process.

Explore how regret plays into whether or not a deal gets done, reframe how you think when you're negotiating with someone you think...

"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right / Here I am, stuck in the middle with you" – song lyrics, or an accurate description of American politics?

There's a lot to analyze in the world of US politics, business, and culture right now. In order to understand where we're going, it's critical to understand where we've been – so, this week on S4N, Gene breaks down the original negotiation that created America to answer the questi...

Stoicism may be the trendy philosophy amongst many male media personalities right now - resulting in its occasional description as "broicism" - but it's more than just that. This week on S4N, Gene goes beyond the "broicism" trend and teaches you how to apply stoic principles for better negotiations... not to mention better sleep at night. 

Featuring lessons from books, movies, and thinkers across history, learn how to reframe your ...

Happy New Year and welcome back to S4N! Before we dive in to another year of exploring high-profile negotiations, we're setting the tone for 2025 by re-focusing our negotiation mindset. In this episode, refresh yourself on risk assessment, handling stress, and effect-based reasoning so you can lay the foundation for making your best deals ever. Explore the ACE framework of decision making, learn how to work with concepts over facts...

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” In the last S4N episode of 2024, Gene breaks down the deal that sent shockwaves through the MLB just last week, when Juan Soto left the New York Yankees to play for the team’s bitter rival, the New York Mets.

Explore how risk analysis and risk tolerance play into negotiations, learn how to flip the script from buyer to seller and gain the upper hand in a dea...

Ever been tempted to jump at a deal so a competitor doesn’t get it first? Ever wanted something to work so badly that you’d rather get something done quickly than get it done right? So did the investors in Elizabeth Holmes’s catastrophic Theranos start-up.

This week on S4N, Gene takes a closer look at one of the biggest business scandals to captivate the public in the last ten years – what would’ve been ...

On October 1, the International Longshoremen’s Association briefly went on strike, causing consumer anxiety over supply shortages and economic impacts. Looking ahead to January 15, when the strike will resume unless an agreement is reached, Gene does a deep dive into negotiations with the ILA and asks: how can the timing of a negotiation impact its efficacy? What problems does inflexibility create? And - what do you d...

Take a break from election content and learn negotiation tips and tricks using ANOTHER topic that's been in the news recently: baseball! 

This week, Gene dives into the world of MLB contract negotiations throughout history and what we can take from each of them to become better businesspeople. Explore the importance of having options and how to create them, do a deep dive into the good and bad of arbitration, and see firsthand why ...

Ever negotiated with someone who will concede almost everything... except for one really big thing? This week on S4N, Gene explores Ronald Reagan's failed negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachev regarding the nuclear arms race - and breaks down why one man who conceded almost everything still couldn't get a deal done. 

Learn how to identify the other side's sticking point, explore and avoid the pitfalls of "shiny object syndrome," and g...

Circling back, pain points, pivoting, deliverables… how many jargon-y words can you remember hearing in a business setting? Probably a lot more than 7. And yet, despite being designed to energize and motivate team members, have you ever been inspired by one of those buzzwords? Have some of them left you even MORE confused?

This week on S4N, Gene explores how we can move from communication gimmicks, trend...