After growing up in Asia and attending school in Europe and the United States, Xavier de Nazelle was keenly aware of how culture influences the way that people negotiate. But as head of corporate and asset-based finance for EFA Group, Nazelle sought to hone his own negotiation knowledge and skills. With encouragement from his CEO, he chose to attend the Strategic Negotiations program at Harvard Business School (HBS) Executive Education with one of his colleagues. Here, he shares his experience with the program.
During my career, I have always worked in commercial environments where I had to negotiate, often with parties who were older, and I always felt comfortable with it. I would have qualified myself as a good negotiator; when negotiating, I tried to avoid putting too much pressure on the other party while still making sure I got something from the deal. I also had tough negotiations where I lost badly. Those were excellent learning experiences.
My CEO recommended the program to me. He thought it would help me structure my approach to negotiations and better evaluate expected outcomes. Even though I'm an experienced negotiator, the way I used to prepare for dealmaking was inconsistent. I also found it difficult to accurately evaluate the potential outcome of a deal. During a negotiation, I also spent a lot of time trying to find the weak points of the other party. I decided to apply for this program so I could better prepare for and successfully manage any negotiation.
The program helped me improve my active listening skills and methodology, and has changed the way I approach and manage different stakeholders. I now realize that gaining a clear understanding of different stakeholders' interests, motivations, and desired outcomes is key to maximizing value creation opportunities. During a negotiation, I spend less time trying to find the other party's weaknesses, and more time trying to understand how we can actually bring value to each other.
The program serves as a reminder that negotiations are not about a quick win. It helps you develop patience under pressure and better manage the negotiation process. Since participating in the program, I systematically check my own assumptions throughout the negotiation process. I consider whether there's an opportunity to do a deal on a greater scale, and challenge my assumptions to try to achieve the best possible outcome.
Having previously studied in the United States, I've always liked the case method. It fosters curiosity and interest by focusing on real-world examples. It's a well-rounded learning method that allows you to learn from experience first and then from the theory whilst sharing different opinions with other classmates. Case studies also force participants to be well prepared for class. I was somewhat surprised and also pleased to find out that joining a five-day program at HBS required strong preparation.
The faculty were amazing. The way they interact with participants to bring key ideas to life makes the learning process truly enjoyable and extremely efficient. The faculty also had extensive experience with negotiating large global deals, which brought a lot of practicality to the classroom and the learning process.
For me, the experience was beneficial on two levels: on a personal level, I think I improved a lot as a negotiator and will continue to improve over time. I now have practical tools and frameworks and a clear understanding of the overall process of a deal. On a company level, having multiple people attend the program has improved everyone's dealmaking capabilities and strengthened our ability to work as a team.
This is an excellent program for learning how to prepare and implement complex deals. It will help you gain confidence during a deal, apply a logical and rational approach, understand the setup of complex negotiations, and clarify your objectives and expected outcomes. It will also help you understand the motivations of others and look for opportunities to create value for all parties—beyond a mere win-win deal.
