Hi Reader, This week on Gentle Power (GentlePowerPodcast.com), we had Surina Diddi on the podcast. Surina and Gerta are Wellesley classmates, and it turns out they also took a graduate class on negotiations together at MIT, which we learned a few minutes into recording. Surina spent nearly a decade in finance: equity research, investment banking, then private equity in the renewable energy space. She understands long sales cycles, institutional bureaucracy, and the art of building...
7 days ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader, We recently had one of Gerta’s favorite podcasters, Julia Martin, and her cofounder, Melanie Bettis, on the Gentle Power Podcast (YouTube | Spotify | Apple). This conversation ended up landing in one of our favorite topic overlaps: that messy intersection between mindset and tactics. Julia comes from the world of mindset, manifestation, and intentionality. Melanie comes from the world of job search strategy, interview prep, and salary negotiation. Together, they built something...
13 days ago • 7 min read
Hi Reader, This week, we wanted to highlight a benefit of negotiating well that many people don't realize: signaling that you have strong business acumen and professional competence. We explain why below. Quick PSA: Negotiations Q&A on Thursday, March 26th We're hosting a free negotiations Q&A next week! Join us next Thursday, March 26th at 12pm PT / 3pm ET to get live input and real-time feedback from us on all your negotiation questions. We'll also send everyone who RSVPs a free template...
18 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, We love PhD dropouts and we love decision making science, so, naturally, we had to have Sam Liu on the podcast (Episode: YouTube | Spotify | Apple). Sam is the founder of an AI company called Fergana Labs. Before that, he was doing a PhD at Stanford studying decision making. We were curious what someone who studied decision making at that level actually learned, how they apply it to their negotiations, and how they apply it to their personal lives. The surprising part was that...
22 days ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, We get the following questions a lot: “Have you trained an AI on your negotiation framework?” “Can I just follow a template?” This week on the Gentle Power Podcast (YouTube | Spotify | Apple), Gerta and I recorded a solo episode where we dove deep into why negotiations is not as straightforward as memorizing scripts on how to push back or ask for more. We get the appeal. Clean template language would be easier for everyone involved, more scalable for us, and probably more...
27 days ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, Not sure if you've seen this too, but we keep getting this ad on Instagram (screenshot below), probably because we post a lot about negotiations. Don't fall for this ad It's tempting to go down this rabbit hole, but don't let curiosity waste valuable time you could spend elsewhere. Here's why, but first: FREE Negotiations Q&A on Thursday, March 5th Quick PSA: we're hosting a live Q&A this week! Join us Thursday, March 5th at 3pm PT / 6pm ET to get live input and real-time feedback...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
There’s a specific kind of pain that shows up in negotiations. You walk away from an offer because you assume something better is coming. You tell yourself you’re being “disciplined.” Then nothing comes. The sushi belt keeps moving. You’re just sitting there watching empty plates. In this week’s episode of Gentle Power, we invited Yehong Zhu, cofounder and CEO of Zette AI, which licenses premium news data from trusted publishers to AI companies. Yehong left us with a few metaphors that...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hi friend, With the market uncertainty these days and many recent layoffs, we've received a lot of questions about severance packages, sign-on bonus clawback clauses, what can be negotiated, and more. Here are some things to think about:1️⃣ The new California clawback law(Even if you’re outside California, it’s worth keeping an eye on since other states often follow California’s lead.)California recently passed a new law called Assembly Bill (AB 692) tightening the rules around sign-on...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
LinkedIn feels like it’s split into two genres right now: “Thrilled to announce we raised $50M” AI-written posts that somehow say nothing in 900 words. And yet… it still works. This week on Gentle Power (Youtube | Spotify | Apple), we talked to Morgan Snyder, who helps CEOs and exec teams build a real content engine. The part we found most useful was not his tactics. It was the underlying negotiation happening before any “sales call” even starts. Key frameworks or ideas 1) Long-form builds...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read