Hi Reader, This is Part II of our Gentle Power Podcast episode with the Latvian wunderkind, Annija Eizenarma. (for part I, see our recent newsletter here!) Quick recap: Annija started her first business at 15 at a small school in the Latvian countryside, and from the age of 17 spent the next six years building a smart home company that was eventually acquired by one of Europe’s leading manufacturers in the building automation industry. We were impressed with how Annija proactively negotiated...
13 days ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, This week on the Gentle Power Podcast, we invited Latvian wunderkind, Annija Eizenarma. Annija started her first business when she was 15 years old at a small school in the Latvian countryside, met her business partner at 17, then spent the next six years building a smart home company that she ultimately sold to one of Europe’s leading manufacturers in the building automation system industry. Still hungry after her exit, she moved to San Francisco to find her next career move. As...
17 days ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, Yassas! 🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 We’re currently in Greece on the last leg of our annual summer trip to visit Gerta’s family in Europe. We’ve actually been in Europe since early June getting a ton of family time, but have also been super heads down on work throughout. The time difference with most of our clients has been brutal (regular client calls between 12-6am local time), but we’ve had some huge wins that we’re so happy about - one client whose offer we helped negotiate got bumped up two levels...
28 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, This week on the Gentle Power Podcast, we spoke with Soumya Maya, who's building an AI product to help people making career pivots. She started out in architecture, spent a decade moving across different industries, and most recently worked in product management at edtech startups before leaving a few months ago to support career changers. Most people who switch industries assume they’re starting over, that a new field means a weaker hand when it comes to compensation, level, and...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader, We recently published our podcast interview with Gerta's negotiation professor from MIT, Ofer Sharone (full episode: YouTube | Spotify | Apple). We covered a lot with Professor Sharone, more than fit in one newsletter, so we're picking up where the first newsletter left off. That first newsletter was about negotiation mindset. Today, we're going to get more tactical: why it's important to dig for why a company picked you, whether you should name a number, and the concept of...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
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...
about 2 months 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...
about 2 months 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...
2 months 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...
2 months ago • 7 min read