Working It Out

The art of negotiation.

By Debra Phillips

Clarence Darrow knew just how to throw off adversaries during negotiations. What the famous lawyer would do--unbeknownst to said adversaries, of course--is place a thin wire through his cigars to keep the ashes from falling to the floor. Bewildered by the trick, Darrow's opponents were left not fully concentrating.

OK, this isn't exactly a widely hailed deal-making strategy--but it worked. And, as pointed out in lawyer Marc Diener's immensely readable Deal Power: 6 Foolproof Steps To Making Deals of Any Size (Henry Holt and Co. Inc., $9.95 paper), deal-making isn't just a science--it's an art.

Which isn't to suggest there aren't guideposts to point you in the right direction--and this is Deal Power's role. Diener's self-created system aims to make Darrows out of the rest of us mere mortals.

Contact Sources

Burgess Sales and Supply Inc., (704) 333-8933

Mecklenburg County Work Release and Restitution Center, 901 Elizabeth Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204, fax: (704) 336-3533

This article was originally published in the August 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Working It Out.