AI and the Three Cs of Negotiation

Recently, I had the great opportunity to talk with @Sam Trattles, a negotiation expert.  Sam’s negotiation framework: conviction, craft, and courage, maps neatly onto where AI genuinely helps and where it can’t. Only one of the three Cs has much use for a chatbot. Here’s how it all comes together…

• Conviction comes entirely from you. Deciding the conversation is worth having and that you’re worth having it happens before any tool gets involved. No amount of AI prep substitutes for actually believing your case matters, and deciding to dive in and negotiate a favorable outcome.
• Craft is where AI earns its keep. Give it context on the person you’re negotiating with, their role, their concerns, their communication style. Do this in much the same way you’d brief a colleague before role playing a conversation. The AI can then help you shape a message that’s more likely to land. This is the heavy-lifting research stage, not the whole negotiation.
• Courage is stepping into the actual conversation. Having the crafted message ready doesn’t replace the moment of asking for what you want. That’s a human act, and AI can’t do it for you or with you in real time.
• Balance the AI prep with real human sounding boards. After getting a perspective from AI, checking with a colleague on how the message might land adds a second layer of judgment a chatbot can’t provide. Two humans thinking it through beats one human and a tool.
• Debrief with AI after the fact, not just before. Going back afterwards to say what actually happened, how you’re feeling about it, and what you’d take as a lesson turns the tool into more of a companion across the whole process, not just a prep station beforehand.