Tactical Versus Strategic Thinking

Another reason top executives do not like negotiations is that negotiations are very tactical—i.e., focused on specific, often shortterm, gains and concessions. People who make it to the top usually have good tactical skills, but they do not like using them. They prefer looking at long-term relationships and the long-term health of their organizations. "I want a deal that is fair, not necessarily the most lucrative one we could squeeze out of the customer," says Ruf of Burns & McDonnell. The reason that he and others feel that way is simple. "Eighty percent of our business is repeat business," says Richard Bell of HDR, Inc. "I cannot let short-term gain ruin longterm prospects. That is why I advocate fairness over being greedy in a negotiation." Dave Ruf pointed out that his company's first client from 102 years ago remains a client today, and you do not develop that kind of relationship by squeezing every nickel out of the client during a negotiation.

This overriding concern for long-term relationships tends to make top executives a little "softer" when they were negotiating—occasionally too soft if you listen to the subordinates of some of the people I interviewed. "Once our CEO is convinced we will make a fair profit if we do our job well, he loses interest in squeezing another nickel out of the other side," a senior engineer at a software development company lamented to me after a long negotiation with a client of mine a few years back.

Because people who make it to the top think constructively and long-term, the whole process of negotiations—which involves breaking the other side down and getting specific terms right now—is distasteful to them. Negotiations are emotional, and top executives stay out of emotional situations. Negotiations involve gamesmanship, and top executives hate ploys. If you want to be the invincible executive, therefore, you need to develop your "front end" and "back end" skills early in your career by putting yourself in a position to advise your top management on the initial structuring and the ultimate closing of deals. That is where the real action is. Then bite your lip and participate in the "dance" as necessary—always making it your goal to extricate yourself from that process as soon as possible in your career. And the best way to advance from the negotiation dance is to make the boss look good.