Hi Reader, This week on the Gentle Power Podcast, we cover the uncomfortable negotiations that start after you're hired: resetting expectations with a peer, giving a co-worker constructive feedback, telling a direct report they’re underperforming. Our guest is Amanda Gustafson, who coaches leaders through these kinds of conversations. She took a winding path to get here, from a physics degree to running a theater in Troy, Michigan at 23, to a master's in psychology, to a stint as a dean of...
6 days ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader, One of Gerta's first negotiation classes was a graduate course she took at MIT more than 15 years ago while she herself was a college student. The professor who taught the popular “Power & Negotiations” course was Ofer Sharone, and this week we had the privilege of interviewing him on the Gentle Power Podcast (gentlepowerpodcast.com). Professor Sharone’s path to teaching negotiations took many turns throughout his career. He earned his JD at Harvard Law School, spent his early...
18 days ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, I (Gerta) just found out I was featured in Business Insider again! Highly recommend setting a Google Alert for yourself and the important people in your life to see what the web is saying about you in real time.A few quick things I want to emphasize from my quotes in the article (see article screenshots below): Negotiating with a collaborative tone and showing genuine excitement are not only the right thing to do but also very high-leverage. They keep the relationship strong and...
21 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, This week on the Gentle Power Podcast (GentlePowerPodcast.com), we sat down with Daniel Imberman, a friend from the Sandbox community who now runs his own consulting firm out of Mexico City. Daniel spent years as an engineer. He was employee #10 at Astronomer, the company you might know from a certain Coldplay kiss cam moment, and he helped scale it from 10 to 300 people. He then left to build a business where he himself is the product. Much of what we discussed revolved around how...
28 days ago • 7 min read
Hi Reader, A few weeks ago, we hosted a live Q&A for people who'd just been laid off from a handful of large tech companies. Alex Daniels, a corporate attorney who spent years at Cooley, one of Silicon Valley's top law firms, joined us to field questions. Nearly 100 people showed up and we ran out of time. So we recorded an emergency episode of our Gentle Power Podcast. Alex Daniels joined us again as did our friend Grace Ling (a creator and UX designer who we had just interviewed for her own...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader, If you've been following international news, there are massive protests happening right now in my (Gerta’s) country of origin, Albania. People are taking to the streets to protest against the government's dealings with the Kushners to develop a luxury resort on a highly coveted, beautiful island in the Albanian Riviera, one of the fastest-growing travel destinations in Europe. The protests are reminding me that some of the smartest negotiations don't look like negotiations at all....
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, Our Gentle Power Podcast guest this week, Angela Liao, has negotiated from every seat at the table. She spent years on the supplier side in Asia, negotiating on behalf of manufacturing companies with customers like Apple and Google. After Asia, she went to work at Tesla in the US, then to Google, where she now leads device strategy and negotiates manufacturing partnerships. Having been on both sides of high-stakes business negotiations, Angela has developed a keen sense of what...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader, In light of the recent mass layoffs that have hit many notable companies, we hosted a live Q&A this week on negotiating severance agreements. We also brought on our friend, Alex Daniels, to share his legal POV. Alex is a corporate attorney, a former Google employee, and cofounder of a boutique law firm that works with startups and professionals. A lot of people couldn't make the session and asked us for the recording, but to respect attendees’ privacy and to encourage open and...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, We've seen many layoffs at top companies across our circles recently, and wanted to use today's newsletter to discuss negotiating severance agreements. One caveat upfront: severance is harder to negotiate than a job offer. When it's a new job offer, both sides want the deal done. In a severance situation, the company holds more control and has less incentive to move. But this doesn't mean that it's not worth trying to negotiate. If you're being laid off, at this point you don't...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read