The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf |
| Posted: 12 Aug 2011 02:32 AM PDT An illuminating book on getting what you want in life. WHETHER it is discussing the terms of a business deal, reaching a compromise with your spouse over where to eat, persuading a traffic cop not to give you a ticket, or haggling over an item at the local pasar malam, all of us engage in negotiations every day. Mastery of negotiation skills would thus be key to obtaining maximum satisfaction and achievement in life. Unfortunately, many of us never take the time to work on improving ourselves in this area. This is where Stuart Diamond's masterful book comes in. Getting More is a powerful and potentially life-changing manual on the process of negotiation. Absorbing and easily digestible, Diamond's book is a well-written triumph, aiming not just to educate its readers on this much misunderstood process but to also transform them into successful negotiators, capable of handling themselves in every scenario under the sun. A former Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Diamond is currently a lecturer at the prestigious Wharton School of Business, Pennsylvania, where his negotiation course has been the most popular for the past 13 years in the student course auction. Over the course of his career, Diamond has advised governments (Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico, among others), international organisations (including the United Nations) and multinationals such as Prudential, Google, Microsoft and IBM. In 2008, he provided the process that enabled the Writer's Guild of America to settle its year-long strike with Hollywood studios. Countless people have benefited from his techniques over the years, and Getting More is filled with glowing testimonials from satisfied readers who have used his lessons to gain everything from cheaper food to cushy job offers. Most people, the book illustrates, mistakenly think that negotiations are about substance, facts, rights or power, and as a result, fail at them. Because, says Diamond, it is people who are central to every negotiation, and unless one understands the current emotional states (or the "pictures in their heads") of the person you are negotiating with, reaching an agreement will be an arduous task. One of the most unique traits of Getting More is how it dismisses a lot of conventional wisdom. Diamond criticises processes often taught at business seminars or in self-help books: for example, the emphasis on achieving a "win-win situation"; achieving such a situation would not be useful all the time, he states. Sometimes, a lose-win situation is desired, to give some leeway in the relationship, and sometimes even a lose-lose situation can be a desirable outcome. Understand the goals of the party negotiating with you, Diamond stresses, and focus not on what they specifically ask for but instead, understand the fundamentals of their demands and work towards getting those right. Getting More is full of useful tips on to how to do this, including the use of role reversals, trading items of unequal value, and the identification of third parties or higher decision makers. The book is organised well, with general principles illustrated in the front chapters, and sections dealing with specific areas toward the back – and are all written in a simple, yet very comprehensive style. Diamond even includes a section on public issues, where he offers his ideas on negotiating tricky problems such as the tension in the Middle East, the abortion debate in America, and climate change. It would definitely be interesting to see these ideas being implemented by world leaders and policymakers. One of the most interesting sections of Diamond's book deals with the use of "standards" and "framing". The former is the use of prior promises or commitments to hold a party to a bond, while the latter is the reshaping or reimagining of a situation in a way that becomes either more or less favourable to the party hearing it. While these concepts sound simple, Getting More illustrates how powerful they can be, listing simple yet comprehensive ways in which you can use them to your advantage. Getting More is also packed with anecdotes of successful use of Diamond's techniques. While this is part of the book's charm, it is possible to be swamped by the sheer volume of these stories at times, particularly as many of them basically illustrate the same concept. It may also be possible to develop unrealistic expectations from reading all these glowing stories of success. However, Diamond does keep reminding us that every situation is different, and not every negotiation will succeed. Overall, an illuminating book, written by one of the best negotiators in the field. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Posted: 12 Aug 2011 02:22 AM PDT COWBOYS versus aliens is not the only crossover match-up we want to see. Here are some other pop-culture related smackdowns we would love to see happening. Star Wars vs Star Trek Which starship would win in a dogfight – the Millennium Falcon or the Enterprise? Which is more deadly, the Borg Cube or the Death Star? Who would win in a blaster showdown, Han Solo or Captain Kirk? One thing is for sure though, Data better let Chewbacca win at the holo-chess game of Dejarik, or the Wookie'll rip his robotic arms out of his sockets. Ip Man vs Wong Fei Hong Wong initiates the fight by asking Ip for a Wing Chun-styled massage. Insulted, Ip Man pulls out his ultimate weapon – a feather duster – and dusts Wong Fei Hong with it. Kick-@ss vs Scott Pilgrim One's a wannabe superhero loser with no powers and a knack for getting into fights with evil mob bosses. The other is a wannabe rocker slacker with a hot girlfriend and a knack for getting into fights with her evil exes. Not wanting to hurt a fellow geek, the two fight it out with a game of Street Fighter instead. Transformers vs Gobots Tired of being overshadowed by their more popular 1980s counterparts, the Gobots, led by Leader-One and Cy-Kill in a rare collaboration, launch an attack on Cybertron, only to be blown up at the first hurdle ... a security "moon" manned by an assortment of minibots led by ... Wheelie. Jurassic Park vs Ji-Sung Park At the twilight of his career and deemed surplus to requirements, the Manchester United player decides to accept a final lucrative payday to an unknown club in some Caribbean island. Upon arriving there, he discovers that his new paymasters are actually a group of sentient, Liverpool-supporting dinosaurs, and is turned into dinosaur chow. Related Stories: |
| Posted: 11 Aug 2011 04:12 PM PDT The Shroud Codex NEW York parish priest Paul Bartholomew resumes his duties after three long years spent recovering from a horrific car accident – only to experience frightening visions and find himself beginning to resemble the man whose image is impressed in the renowned Shroud of Turin. And then stigmata appear, marking Paul right in front of his congregation. Concerned about the potential for chaos in the city's Christian community, the Archbishop of New York asks Stephen Castle, well-known surgeon, psychiatrist and, most importantly, atheist, to find out what exactly is happening to Paul. Shot by Both Sides TRANSLATED from Japanese by Tom Gill, this novel is about a man seeking evidence of his existence through his memories. Standing at a bridge one day, the narrator decides that he must search for the old military overcoat his mother had given him 20 years ago, when he first came to Tokyo. His search leads him into the past of rural Japan during his student days. It was then where he paid many visits to the red-light district. A movie theatre reminds him of the time when he dressed up as a soldier and carried out propaganda work. But when everything comes full circle, what will he have gained when he finds himself back at the same bridge where he started out? Zen Baggage IN the spring of 2006, the author travelled through China and visited ancient caves containing collections of Buddhist texts, spoke to monks in charge of martial arts at the renowned Shaolin Temple, sat through six-hour Buddhist ceremonies and went to China's first Zen nunnery. This is the story of his pilgrimage to sites associated with the first six patriarchs of Zen. It's a combination of history, interviews with Zen masters and translations of the earliest known records of Zen. How To Start A Conversation And Make Friends HOW do you strike up a conversation with someone you don't know and keep it going? This book offers insights into the required skills and some simple guidelines to doing just that. The author, a "small talk expert", has spent the last 25 years helping people to communicate confidently. In this book he discusses how to identify your personal conversation style and boost your speaking skills. There is also a section dedicated to social media networking, online communication, etiquette and security. I Dare You PEOPLE always question why they are here on earth. Do they serve a higher purpose? The author urges the reader to take charge of his life and make it count. Her principles are based on her belief that God has a plan for us and we are all here to carry out His will and enjoy doing it. She offers tips on how to pursue your passion in life and how to combine passion and purpose. Dreams Of Joy SET in 1957, this sequel to Shanghai Girls has Pearl's daughter, Joy, feeling betrayed after discovering who her biological mother is. Joy leaves America for China in search of a new home as well as her biological father. Pearl follows, desperate to bring Joy back, for the China that her daughter is entering is not the country that Pearl left. Then, Shanghai was China's wealthy and cosmopolitan commercial heart; in 1957, Joy was entering a China on the brink of Mao's Great Leap Forward, of massive famine and social disruption. Us: Transforming Oursel ves And The Relationships That Matter Most ACCORDING to this author, there are three kinds of relationships that matter: one's relationship with the self, with others, and with the divine. Drawing on ancient traditions, spiritual and holistic thinkers, and personal insights, this book strives to take readers on a journey of enlightenment. Somewhere Inside IN 2009, American reporter Laura Ling and her colleague Euna Lee were apprehended by North Korean soldiers while filming a documentary about defectors. The two were charged with trespassing and subsequently imprisoned and interrogated. They were the first Americans in history to be sentenced to 12 years of hard labour in a prison camp in North Korea. This book alternates between Laura's story of her capture and the story told by her sister, Lisa, about her efforts to secure Laura and Euna's release. The women were released after five months in captivity. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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