Tip 3: find the ‘black swan’

Welcome to our weekly series of short tips and tricks to help you achieve strength in any settlement negotiation.

Chris Voss also talks about the importance of ‘finding the black swan and using it to your advantage’.

Until the seventeenth century, black swans were thought to be mythical creatures. In a negotiation context, they are now a metaphor for the discovery of something unexpected. There will of course be information about the employer that you know. But there are also things you don’t know. These are the black swans, or unknown unknowns.

There are a couple of techniques you can use to make black swans visible. First off, ask lots of questions and be attentive to the non-verbal cues they may trigger.

Second, negotiate in person. You can’t get important, deep information through email because people can control how much they reveal in writing and you get no idea of tone or body language.

Discovering a black swan gives you leverage. If you learn what the employer truly wants, you can ask for what you want in return. Or you may realise they fear something, like damage to their reputation, which you can use to your advantage.