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Do Negotiators Tilt?

Keith Stacey

Sportsmen and women choke but apparently poker players "tilt". I came across this term in Nate Silver's excellent book the Signal and the Noise. Tilting is defined as over aggressive play brought on by a lack of perspective, or playing without discipline. A number of tilts are listed and could just as easily apply to negotiating.

Among them are:

  • Too loose
  • Too tight
  • playing too long
  • Playing too tired
  • Entitlement
  • Distracted
  • Scared
  • Too much money
  • Too little money
  • I gotta get even.

If we can apply this to negotiating then just as players grab their throat when an opponent appears to choke a skilled negotiator can just start leaning ever so slightly when their counter-party tilts.

Keith Stacey

 

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