Changing the Game

Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making

High-stakes business negotiations challenge your wits, your confidence, and your capacity for clear reasoning under intense pressure. Changing the Game leverages the latest research to your advantage, helping you prepare for complex negotiations, anticipate and overcome obstacles, and think on your feet when decisions must be made in a flash.

What You Can Expect

Under the leadership of Harvard Business School and Harvard University faculty, you learn how to enhance your mental effectiveness, realize better outcomes, test new ideas, and close stronger deals. Through active participation in dynamic classes, you will develop skills that translate into higher performance—for yourself and for your organization.

Your Course of Study

Offered both on campus and in Europe, Changing the Game is a comprehensive program for practical success. Through a combination of case studies, negotiation simulations, and group discussions, the program teaches enhanced decision-making and negotiating skills that can be shared across the entire organization.

Who Is Right for the Program

To encourage a global perspective relevant to a wide range of business challenges, this leadership development program encourages applicants from a broad range of functions and industries, allowing you to learn from and build on the experience and expertise of other executives. Changing the Game is especially recommended for senior professionals in dynamic industries such as high technology, pharmaceutical/medical, energy, consulting, and investment banking.

HBS Executive Education in Europe

Recognized for its rich heritage in global leadership, management education, and groundbreaking research, Harvard Business School (HBS) is deeply rooted in the world economy. To facilitate faculty research and case development on an international scale, HBS has established six global research centers in key regions. This powerful network enables the HBS faculty to work with leaders of industry, government, and academia worldwide, while capitalizing on business challenges and innovations wherever they occur. Through sustained fieldwork, they are immersed in the unique cultures, values, and nuances that lead to meaningful and insightful research.

Founded in 2003 and located in Paris, the Europe Research Center (ERC) plays a vital role in helping HBS engage the expertise of business and academic leaders in Europe and develop long-term relationships that are mutually rewarding. By facilitating case study development and research, HBS faculty delve into one of the world’s most important economic regions.

Global in perspective, the HBS Executive Education programs in Europe examine the complex issues facing companies in developed and emerging markets around the world. These distinct offerings incorporate the renowned HBS case study method—an interactive real-life model—and are taught by full-time HBS faculty who represent a range of business disciplines, including general management, finance, negotiation, organizational behavior, and strategy.

Reinforcing their global orientation, the HBS programs in Europe attract an elite group of business executives from every continent, a variety of industries, and across diverse business functions. The result is an unparalleled learning experience that furthers the success of both the individual and the organization.

What You Can Expect

In business, everything you know comes together in one place: the negotiation table. Whether you come away with new successes or empty hands depends on how effectively you use this knowledge to achieve your objectives.

Changing the Game: Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making improves executive skills and capabilities across a variety of competitive transactions that may be vital to your organization and your career. Developed by core Harvard Business School faculty who are preeminent authorities on negotiation and decision making, this program gives you a proven framework and a cognitive toolkit to maximize the value of each transaction.

Taking your skills to the next level

Today's increasingly competitive business environment presents challenges that require expertise in analysis, negotiating, and decision making. In this stimulating high-level program, you will learn to:

"As the chief financial officer of a fast-growing energy company, negotiation is an important part of my daily life. Everything I learned during this program is always very fresh in my mind. Since then, I can better judge myself and the other parties before and during the negotiations. By using these powerful negotiating skills and techniques, I can define my limits and borders before I start to negotiate them."
Ozlenen Aydin [Chief Financial Officer], Enerjisa AS, Istanbul/Turkey

Your Course of Study

As a participant in Changing the Game, you will actively engage in scenarios that develop sophisticated skills you can bring back to your organization. In collaboration with your peers, you will plan, simulate, obtain feedback, and discuss negotiation and competitive strategy. While engaging in case discussions, you will also evaluate your own competitive decision-making scenarios.

The curriculum for this leadership development program includes the following key components:

Auditing Decision-Making Skills

Are your assumptions sound? Can you rely on your "gut instincts"? The value of your decisions is directly related to the quality of your thinking. In Changing the Game, you will audit how you think, comparing rational versus intuitive decision-making strategies and identifying common mistakes made by even the most experienced professionals. With the focus on competitive environments, this segment develops some of the most advanced concepts from the emerging areas of behavioral economics, behavioral decision research, and behavioral finance.

Understanding the Core Elements of Negotiation

You will have the opportunity to engage in simulations that involve preparation, team building, feedback, and the development of a conceptual structure for thinking more rationally. Using this structure as a guide, you will critique several large-scale case studies. In the end, you will return to your organization equipped with the analytical skills to execute and evaluate negotiations.

Managing Complex, Competitive Environments

Faculty members will address a variety of complexities related to competitive decision making, including managing parallel negotiations, participating in an auction, dealing with apparent issues of right and wrong, controlling emotionally charged situations, and adapting as the interests and goals of the parties change during the course of negotiation. With the focus on how to analyze each complexity and develop a plan accordingly, the program is designed to help you respond to the kinds of complicated problems you are likely to encounter in real-world transactions.

Enhancing Decision-Making Proficiency across the Organization

You will actively practice several of the decision-making and negotiation concepts discussed in the program's other segments. In doing so, you will examine proven tools and principles of experimentation, enabling you to test new ideas for improving decision-making abilities across your organization. Aside from gaining new perspectives on how to fine-tune your own decisions, you will learn how to transfer knowledge and capabilities in order to enhance the choices and decisions made by your fellow managers.

Applying Your Skills

In the final case study, you will integrate the various components of the program as you examine a complex negotiation particularly relevant to today's economic environment.

Enhancing Your Organization

A brief closing session will summarize the ways in which you can take the program's concepts and practical skills back to your organization so that you and your fellow managers can become better decision makers over the long term.

"Changing the Game was an opportunity to consider both the practical and theoretical aspects of negotiation and decision making. The vibrant mix of international participants with varying backgrounds enriched the learning experience. Having the chance to reflect and learn in such a positive environment, even for a week, enriched my entire year back at the workplace."
Dr. Dominic Henley Katter [Lawyer], Australia

Who Is Right for the Program

In a program that focuses on personal interactions, the quality of peer participants has an enormous effect on the learning experience. Both the on-campus and European offerings of Changing the Game attract a highly diverse group of talented business leaders from around the world, allowing participants to build on the experience and expertise of their peers. This program is appropriate for all executives, including those who have taken prior negotiation courses.

Participants span a wide range of business titles and functions, and are likely to be employed in fast-moving, dynamic industries such as high technology, consulting, investment banking, pharmaceutical/medical, and energy.

A typical audience might include high-level professionals actively engaged in key activities that include:

Past Participants Represented:

Industries Nationalities
12% Chem/Pharm/Bio 14% Asia/Pacific
1% Communications 28% Europe
4% Consumer Products 19% Latin America
12% Financial 39% North America
7% High Technology
8% Manufacturing
7% Nonprofit Services
6% Other Services
14% Professional Services
9% Raw Materials/Energy
8% Real Estate/Construction
3% Retail Services
9% Utilities/Telecommunications

"Because this program was so exceptional, I would return to Harvard to attend complementary programs on this subject. I learned that to be a good leader, you must be a good negotiator in every sense. In order to achieve the best results for the company—and develop respectful relationships with stakeholders over the long term—you must negotiate with your employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders of the company in a credible way."
Fernando Sanz Pinto [General Manager], Torraspapel Portugal, Lda., Portugal

Meet the Program Faculty

Like all Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, Changing the Game is developed and taught by a core faculty of HBS professors. Our faculty members are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors.

Through publishing, consulting, and teaching, they leverage their business expertise and field-based research to create new knowledge and enduring concepts that shape the practice of management. The result is a teaching team that exposes participants to multiple perspectives, challenging their thinking and encouraging new practices that result in superior business leadership. For more detailed biographies, click on each faculty name.

Core Faculty

Mahzarin R. Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Department of Psychology, Harvard University.

Max H. Bazerman, Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets Unit; and faculty chair of "Changing the Game: Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making."

Francesca Gino, Associate Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets Unit.

Ian I. Larkin, Assistant Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets Unit.

Deepak Malhotra, Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets Unit.

Guhan Subramanian, H. Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law, Harvard Business School, and Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business, Harvard Law School. Member of the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets Unit; faculty chair of "Changing the Game: Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making."

Michael A. Wheeler, MBA Class of 1952 Professor of Management Practice. Member of the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets Unit; and faculty cochair of "Strategic Negotiations: Dealmaking for the Long Term."

The program offered in Europe will be taught by Guhan Subramanian, Francesca Gino, and Deepak Malhotra.

"My way of preparing for important negotiations has changed completely. The breakout sessions were key to implementing directly the lessons learned, and gave a good impression of what negotiations might actually mean in a competitive environment."
Karl Reinhard Kolmsee, PhD [Sales Director], E.ON Energie AG, Germany

Admissions

Because a diverse participant mix is an important part of every HBS Executive Education program, we look for candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds to enrich the learning experience.

Fees, Payments, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals.

No payment is necessary until you have been accepted into an HBS Executive Education program. After admission notification, we will send you an invoice via email; payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date. If admission is within 30 days prior to the start of the program, payment is due upon receipt of the invoice. Payment is required prior to the program start date. We accept payment by company check, bank wire transfer, or credit card (American Express, MasterCard, Visa). Details are included on the program invoice.

If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Due to program demand and the volume of preprogram preparation, cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

Requirements

Although there are no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on professional achievement and organizational responsibility. We look for professionals who have demonstrated business talent and leadership potential.

HBS Executive Education programs enrich both participants and their sponsoring organizations, and require full commitment from each party. While participants devote time and intellect to the learning experience, sponsoring organizations agree to relieve individuals of their work responsibilities during the program.

Language Proficiency

We deliberately design our programs to encourage individual growth and to foster productive interaction among participants. For that reason, proficiency in written and spoken English is essential. If English is your second language, or if you have less than one year's experience working in an English-speaking environment, HBS requires a brief statement documenting proficiency in English-language skills, both conversational and written. This may include a list of the English-language certification programs that you have completed; the degrees you have earned at English-speaking colleges and universities; or the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam. The Admissions Committee also may request a telephone interview.

Application Process

Program participants must be nominated and sponsored by their current employer. HBS must receive your application and all required documents in order to prepare the application for review by the Admissions Committee.

To apply, you may use our online form or download an application. You also may request a brochure by mail.

If you submit your application online, we will promptly acknowledge receipt of your submission via email. In the unlikely event that an email acknowledgment is not received, please contact the Admissions Committee by email: exed_admissions@hbs.edu, phone: +1-617-495-6226, or fax: +1-617-496-1731.

If you choose to submit a printed application, be sure to type or print legibly and sign your application. Send the application to the address or fax number listed on the form. Mailed or faxed applications are processed and acknowledged promptly upon receipt via email.

Complete Your Application

Please answer all questions thoroughly—the Admissions Committee will only consider completed applications. After reviewing your application and making the necessary edits or corrections, print or copy the application for your records.

Meet the Deadlines

We request applications at least four weeks in advance of the program start date. Early application does not guarantee admission. Programs often fill to capacity, so early application is recommended.

Notification of Acceptance

We acknowledge receipt of all applications and maintain all application information in strict confidentiality.

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, the Admissions Committee selects a class that balances each participant's experience, the scope of his or her current responsibilities, and the type of organization.

The Admissions Committee begins reviewing applications four months before the start date, and qualified candidates are admitted on a rolling, space-available basis. Once the review process has begun, applicants are notified within three weeks via email regarding Admissions Committee decisions. If your application is received within three weeks of the program's start date, the Admissions Committee will notify you of their decision as soon as possible.

Need help?

For further assistance, contact our client service specialists at: 1-800-427-5577 (outside the U.S., dial +1-617-495-6555).