Learnings From In Extremis Negotiators

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In today's challenging business climate, negotiations can often be stressful. As today's design and business challenges become more interconnected, the number of stakeholders and the complexity involved in leading toward the right solutions is increasing. And the time in which to do so is often short. That said, it is nothing like what U.S. military officers are facing daily in Afghanistan and other regions of conflict across the globe.

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A recent Harvard Business Review article entitled "Extreme Negotiations" highlights some essential learnings from the field, outlining five significant learnings that can serve those operating in business contexts just as well as officers. U.S. military officers in Afghanistan often balance making progress and proper decisions while maintaining a stance of strength. Over the past six years or so, HBR has studied how they resolve conflict and influence others in extreme risk and uncertainty situations.

They discovered that the most skilled among them rely on five highly effective strategies...all of which, as it turns out, are grounded in solid design thinking.

1. Understand the big picture.

2. Uncover hidden agendas and collaborate with the other side.

3. Get genuine buy-in.

4. Build relationships based on trust rather than fear.

5. Pay attention to the process as well as desired outcomes.

These strategies, combined, are characteristic of effective extremis negotiators, to adapt a term from Colonel Thomas Kolditz, a professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the author of In Extremis Leadership.

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Photo credit: The Washington Post

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Chris Downey: A New Perspective on Design

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Christopher Downey, RA, is an architect, planner, and consultant in San Francisco, California. In 2008, he lost his sight after surgery to remove a brain tumor. Today, he is dedicated to creating more helpful and enriching environments for the blind and visually impaired. Chris earned a bachelor of environmental design in architecture from North Carolina State University and a master of architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. He works at a rehabilitation center for blind veterans in Palo Alto, California.

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Check out his interview with the Wall Street Journal or learn more about Chris's work via his website: http://www.arch4blind.com/

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The Magic of Iteration

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I received an Apple Magic Mouse as a birthday gift. Since then, it has proven the power of offering users a thoughtfully designed ecosystem and the need to pay attention to even the smallest parts of that ecosystem.

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Companies offering extensive ecosystems are empowered to shape hardware and software touchpoints in powerfully integrated ways. Volumes have been written about how Apple has thoughtfully enhanced its user experience for years. But something else inspiring here has to do with focus and iteration.

Sometimes, the folks in Cupertino manage to release things that are not accompanied by a special press event, which nonetheless has a deep impact on our day-to-day user experiences. The "magic" of the Magic Mouse is one of those thoughtful additions that slipped into the ecosystem. While I don't use all the features offered by the Magic Mouse, I continue to find that just having the ability to scroll through deep web pages with the flick of the index finger is magic enough.

This kind of seamless hardware and software integration builds loyalty. Powerfully "sticky" parts of the user experience sometimes come in small packages. Many result from numerous iterations and refinements in the marketplace. In a world where new-to-market offerings are so highly valued, it serves us well to click "pause", to double-click if you will, to pause, and recognize when outstanding incremental innovations do come along.

Here's to paying attention to the little things. Indeed, there is magic in the details at Apple.

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