The Millennium Challenge 2002 was a three week war game conducted by the US armed forces that cost over $250 million dollars. It fictionally pitted American forces against an “unnamed Persian Gulf military” most likely a stand in for Iran (or, as some argue, Iraq).
“Iran’s” forces were headed up by Marine Corps Lt. General Paul Van Riper, a tough Purple Heart recipient, who beat the American forces at every turn in the action. Van Riper, …

I’ve spent the past few weeks in Israel where I’ve been training a group of leaders and working with people from different cultural backgrounds. I was struck by two things:

Culture is important.
People have a misunderstanding about how culture comes into play in negotiations.

Negotiations occur in a context, be it situational, personal, or cultural. When you are negotiating with a party from a different background, you need to understand their culture and how it may affect …

When I was in graduate school a very long time ago–I took a number of courses in bargaining theory. Later on, I had the privilege of co-authoring a book with Edward Lawler on, essentially what we was known as, “Bargaining Theory.”
In those days, ‘bargaining’ was the operative word and the word ‘negotiate’ didn’t play a prominent role in academic literature.
It seems ever since Fisher and Ury wrote “Getting to Yes” the word ‘bargaining’, or at …

When I was growing up Tennis always had a bit of style to it–a special veneer. A sense of intended, or unintended, civility. It almost had a sense of colonial elitism; the unfortunate whiff of exclusion. Thank goodness those days are gone. Now character has entered the game and drama has become part and parcel of modern tennis.
That said, yesterday, I went to see my 13 year old play tennis on the courts and I …

Even though the economy is on a tight rope organizations still need to think about promoting people in order to retain top talent and groom future leaders.  Organizations need to look for their “High Potentials.”
What are High Potentials?
High potentials are people who know the business; the people that know the details of the operation, but are still innovative. They have a sense of where the organization is moving and they aren’t afraid to think on …

I desperately wanted a few lemon trees, a few orange trees, and maybe some olive trees to give my backyard a touch of biblical class.
However, I don’t know anything about gardening. So, I asked my local coffee shop owner, Dudu, who’s wise in the ways of the world, if he knew any gardeners. Dudu put his network to use and assured me he’d get back to me that night.
Meanwhile, my wife’s cousin recommended a gardener who …