Episode 127 Shine a Light on Opportunity with Susie Tomenchok

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On today’s episode of Make + Design, Carina welcomes master of negotiation Susie Tomenchok. With years of experience negotiating deals for some of the largest companies in the world, Susie came to the realization that negotiation goes on all around us in every facet of life. Susie tells us about one of the opening stories in her new book, “The Art of Negotiation without Manipulation,” where her kids negotiated with her at Target. Her kids came up with a system that would allow them to get Susie to buy them what they wanted at Target by using negotiation tactics. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One of Carina’s big takeaways from the book was that the person who she negotiates with the most is herself. Susie then walks us through a story of a friend of hers in the corporate world who needed to negotiate with herself to work up the inner belief that she deserved a promotion at work. Part of Susie’s friend’s inner negotiation was with the excuses and rationalizations she was allowing to hold her back. Carina and Susie then share experiences from their own lives to show how often this type of inner negotiation happens. Often the inner negotiation has to do with how worthy we feel for an opportunity that’s in front of us.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Susie teaches us that when we get a “no” answer from someone that a “no” is data. It gives us a reference point so that we can understand what needs to change in order for something to work out. Don’t retreat from a “no.” Lean into it and get curious about the “no.” Ask questions. Find out more. Have a conversation. Another aspect of navigating these situations is having the ability to restate our value proposition, to ask the question “how does this feel?” and then to practice silence. The silence is where the other person will fill in the data that you don’t know.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Susie also teaches us about anchoring. Anchoring is generally the firs