Daniel Kahneman Quotes

When you think of all the conflicts we have - whether those conflicts are local, whether they are regional or global - these conflicts are often over the management, the distribution of resources. If these resources are very valuable, if these resources are scarce, if these resources are degraded, there is going to be competition.

Certainly it is much easier to think about negotiating and having deals when there is a singular represented point of view. That pretty much is a given.

You can never in negotiations be totally predictable. The minute you’re predictable, they’re going to figure out how to take advantage.

… even the best of intentions are stymied when every negotiators’ concessions are more clear than their potential gains …

At the end of the day, all the best negotiating techniques can't overcome the most substantive policy differences.

Conflict is good in a negotiation process... it's the clash of two ideas, which then, all being well, produces a third idea.

When resources are degraded, we start competing for them, whether it is at the local level in Kenya, where we had tribal clashes over land and water, or at the global level, where we are fighting over water, oil, and minerals. So one way to promote peace is to promote sustainable management and equitable distribution of resources.

During a negotiation, it would be wise not to take anything personally. If you leave personalities out of it, you will be able to see opportunities more objectively.

Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.

We're all negotiators.

What drives the separation of groups of people into subgroups is the desire to control resources. We begin with a single culture, and over time the number of individuals within that culture expands.

Negotiation is not a policy. It's a technique. It's something you use when it's to your advantage, and something that you don't use when it's not to your advantage.

Unfortunately, in collective bargaining one party or the other too often tries to gain an advantage - a bargain, like buying something in a store for less than it is worth.

Everyone has a different perspective and they all want their perspective to be addressed within the limited resources you have.

The term negotiation implies compromise; painful concessions on the part of both parties.

With shrinking resources, interest groups are pitted against each other.

The problem is that the good Lord didn’t see fit to put oil and gas reserves where there are democratic governments.

Negotiation is not trading. Negotiation is creating new and original solutions.

In any negotiation you have a wish list but then you proceed from where you can be.

Know what you want to achieve prior to starting to negotiate. It's the golden rule but the one most people fail to heed. Without a plan, you allow the opposing party to define your goals instead of the other way around.

The challenge in multi-lateral negotiations is not to lose sight of one's over-arching goal in the midst of the cacophony of opinions at the bargaining table.

The macro of any negotiation is that the only time you can cut a deal is when both sides are hurting. If either side is - is well and feeling happy, you can't get a deal. Then they go for victory. You need - if they're willing to settle for things the other side can live with, it's because they're hurting a little bit.

I got really good at negotiating from a place of weakness.

You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

The danger facing us comes not from lack of resources, but from people who insist that we have run out of resources. If you embrace their idea of a world where there is only so much to go around, then you are endorsing a program of genocide and a war of all against all.