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Want Better Deals? Try These 6 Negotiation Tactics

November 26, 2025/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Use these six techniques as you go through your negotiations. They can be very effective, but each one has their downsides. So be deliberate around picking the technique and understanding the risks that come along with it.

Over the years, I’ve learned some great negotiating techniques and tactics, and I’d like to share them now.

The Invisible Man

The first is called The Invisible Man, and that’s where you’re in the heat of a deal and you don’t want to give an answer right now, or you don’t like the position that the other party is taking, and you just say, well, I have to check with my colleagues before I can give you an answer. That other party isn’t in the room, so you’ve pushed back the negotiation, you’ve bought yourself some time, and now you have the ability to go back to the other party, and say, I know you wanted a 20% discount, but I’ve spoken with my colleagues and the best we can do is 10%. So, you’ve created an invisible authority that the other party has to negotiate against.

The Bogey

The second technique is called The Bogey. Act like something you don’t care about at all is really important to you. And then as you go through the deal, fight hard for that one point, but then you can trade it away later like you’re making a major concession and it doesn’t really cost you anything.

The Nibble

The next technique is called The Nibble, and this is right at the last minute, right before you get a deal done, ask for something extra. It’s not going to be big enough to break the deal, but beware, it can upset the other party. For example, if you’re out shopping for a suit, and you buy two suits and you’re spending a lot of money, and at the last minute, right at the register, say, well, you know what, I’ll buy the suits, can you throw in a tie and a belt? Now, the salesperson is looking at a really big commission and they’re not going to lose that big commission over a tie and a belt, and it’s a small nibble right at the end.

The Highball or Lowball

The next technique is The Highball or Lowball, depending on the position. Start ridiculously high, or ridiculously low, to cause the other party to really reevaluate their opening price. Now, there’s risk in this one, it could backfire and end the deal immediately.

Future Value

Another technique is Future Value. This is where you promise more value tomorrow in exchange for concessions today. Hey, we want to do this deal with you, so we want a much lower price, but we’re going to create a long-term, strategic partnership with you. And in the future, we’re going to send a lot of business your way. Here’s the thing, that business never materializes. Early in my career, I would accept that, and I would make concessions on the promise of that future business. And so many times, I’ve been disappointed when it doesn’t appear. If you’re promised future value, beware of this dynamic. And the best way to make that happen is build it into the contract and say, fine, I’ll give you the concessions, when that future business comes in, and protect yourself from that future value approach.

Multiple Rounds

The last technique is Multiple Rounds. Every time you think you have a deal done, there’s one more negotiator they didn’t tell you about and you have to satisfy their needs, and at each step of the way, that one additional negotiator wants a little bit more of a concession. I’ve been in several situations where we thought we had a deal done and we got the, oh, well, we have to kick it up to my boss, and that boss wanted another 5% or 2%. And after several rounds of negotiations, we gave up a lot of value.

Now, you can use all of these techniques as you go through your negotiations. They can be very effective, but each one has their downsides. So, be deliberate around picking the technique and understanding the risks that come along with it.

Want to learn more about strategic negotiation? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to set business unit goals. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Anchoring a Deal in a Negotiation

November 19, 2025/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Anchors are initial points from which you’re going to negotiate. They can lock you into a position, and unfair anchors can kill a deal.

There’s an interesting dynamic that can happen in negotiations. It’s called anchoring. Anchors are initial points from which you’re going to negotiate. They can lock you into a position, and unfair anchors can kill a deal. If you get one, consider walking away. Also understand, if you give the other party an unfair anchor, they may walk away.

When you go to set an anchor, base it in reality with data or assumptions. Many times, the final offer in a deal, will end up within a reasonable distance from that initial anchor. For example, if you anchor your deal at $100 upfront, and that’s your first offer, more often than not, you’ll end up between 80 and $100. If instead, that first anchor was $500, you’ll end up between 400 and 500. That anchor can drive the final deal price a great deal. Now understand, that anchor also has to be based in reality. You can’t just throw a huge number out there, without some basis in fact. If you receive an anchor from the other party, and you don’t like it, change it. Go from one metric to another, and that’s an easy way to switch the anchor.

For example, I know a software company that was going to launch a platform, and the customer wanted to pay them $10,000 for the software. But they also wanted unlimited use of the software, forever. The startup would’ve lost out on significant longterm revenue, if they went with this single purchase price. That initial $10,000 anchor was not a tenable position. Now the startup didn’t argue with that anchor. They changed it. And they said “Well we don’t look at it as an initial purchase price. We’d rather look at it as a subscription model. And we’ll only charge you $100 per user, per year, for a seat license to our software.” They set this anchor based on comparable software sales in the market. And they were able to show their customer, “Here’s what comparable software costs.” They ended up ultimately with a fee structure of $100 for the first thousand users. $90 per year for the next thousand, and then $75 a year for any users over that. And it was an ongoing revenue stream. The startup captured significantly more value over time, because they were able to change the anchor from that initial one-time purchase, to an ongoing subscription.

As you look at the deals you’re entering into, be very aware of what those anchors are, and how they can shape the final outcome of the negotiation. Be deliberate about putting an anchor out there, and offering facts and data to support your in-going point. Because ultimately, that starting point is going to have a huge effect on the final negotiating price.

Want to learn more about strategic negotiation? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to set business unit goals. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Structuring a Deal in Negotiation

November 12, 2025/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

By understanding your deal’s structure, you’re going to be able to identify opportunities to get a better deal as well as make the deal easier to go through because you can make it better for all parties involved.

Deal structure is going to impact your negotiating approach. There are several things you should look at as you lay out what the structure is. What are the objective criteria that exist and what are the assumptions you’re making about the deal structure? Are there financial criteria that you’re going to look at? Perhaps NPV or ROI, or how much the deal is going to cost. Laying out these objective criteria and some of the assumptions you’re making can help you be more fact-based in approaching the deal.

Next, understand the barriers to the deal. There are a lot of things that are going to get in the way of a deal getting done. The better you understand what these potential barriers are, the better you’re going to be able to negotiate either around them or get things as concessions to help you overcome those barriers.

Third, when does the deal need to be done? Understand the impacts of timing, what’s the value of doing a deal now versus waiting? Does your position get stronger or weaker over time?

And last, understand what would expand the pie. What could make this a better deal for all parties involved? By understanding additional things that you could bring into the deal, you may be able to overcome some of the barriers that were there in the first place.

For example, I had a client at one point that was looking at purchasing some competitive assets. The objective criteria that we were going to use were ROI, return on investment, the dollars os synergies we would get from making the deal, the net present value of making that deal. And we made several assumptions upfront that would help us price the deal. We assumed pricing around the deal, market share we would be able to achieve if we owned those assets, and what sales of the combined business would look like going forward. Assessing barriers was critical, there were regulatory barriers, there were operational and acquisition barriers and lastly, sales price was going to be a barrier that we had to overcome. As far as timing, we had six weeks, this was a bid process, there was a specific date on the calendar that a bid had to be submitted. Timing in this case was critical and we knew the longer we waited, the worse our position got. Finally, in terms of the structure and expanding the pie, we could offer to keep their management team on, we could offer to invest in the business after we purchased it. We could even add financial incentives after the fact if the teams stayed on and helped us grow the business.

So we made it a better deal without having to layout more cash upfront. By understanding the deal’s structure, you’re going to be able to identify opportunities to get a better deal as well as make the deal easier to go through because you can make it better for all parties involved. Spend that extra time laying out the structure and documenting it so that when you take your initial position in that negotiation, you’re able to get the most value out of the entire process that you can.

Want to learn more about strategic negotiation? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to set business unit goals. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Understanding Players and Positions in Negotiation

November 5, 2025/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Understanding the players and their positions is going to help you look at how they’re coming at the deal and the points you should either push on or be willing to concede.

Having a good knowledge of the players and the positions they are going to take in any negotiation is going to set you up for success. There are four things you should consider about your opponent.

First, who’s involved in the negotiation and who ultimately makes the deal? By looking at all the parties who are going to have a say, you’ll have a better understanding of what they want and what’s important to them.

Second, what are the must haves, the want to haves and the nice to haves? If you can list out all the things the other party wants to get out of the deal and understand what’s most important to them and what’s least important, it can inform your ultimate negotiating strategy.

Third, what’s your desired outcome from their perspective, and what happens if there’s no deal? The other party has goals. You have to lay out what you think those goals are, and also understand if a deal goes away, how are they going to react?

Last, what are the alternatives to the deal? You’re not the only option out there. They may have other opportunities that they can pursue if the deal falls through with you.

I was doing an acquisition once where it was a very complex deal, and we laid out the players and their positions very clearly. We understood who was involved. It was a family business, so the full leadership team, the entire family was going to be involved and would have to approve the deal. Their must haves were price and that the team had stay on as part of the operations. Their wants were they wanted control over the operations, but they were willing to give that up in the deal, and the nice to have would’ve been a little bit of extra money. Their desired outcome was to make a deal, but also to remain independent or sell to one of our competitors if the deal fell through. We had clarity on what it would take to keep them engaged in that deal process, and what would get them to be willing to make concessions to us.

Understanding the players and their positions is going to help you look at how they’re coming at the deal and the points you should either push on or be willing to concede.

Want to learn more about strategic negotiation? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to set business unit goals. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Emotion and Fairness in Negotiation

October 29, 2025/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

We like to think negotiations are purely logical, but if you make the mistake of creating bad emotions and bad feelings, it can lead to bad outcomes in your negotiation.

Two things you have to understand as you enter any negotiation are the impacts of emotions and fairness. I know we like to think that negotiations are purely logical, but they’re emotional, and you have to understand how perceptions of fairness, collaboration, and even being taken advantage of can impact negotiating stances and approaches both for you as well as for your opponent.

Imagine we’re walking down the street together and I find $10 on the ground. I pick it up and I decide I’m going to give you some of that money because you’re walking with me. I want you to ask yourself how you feel right now if I say, “I’m going to give you nine of these $10.” How do you feel if I say, “I’m going to give you 18 cents of these $10?” How about if I give you six of the $10? Fairness and emotions impact your willingness to negotiate. Even at 18 cents, you should be happy because it’s 18 cents more than you had before I found the money on the ground, but it feels bad. It feels unfair even though logically it’s a great decision.

Now let’s look at this in terms of your negotiations. You don’t want to be in a situation where you create those feelings in your negotiating opponent where they don’t want to work with you because they feel like you’re unfair. We like to think it’s logical, but if you make the mistake of creating bad emotions and bad feelings, it can lead to bad outcomes in your negotiation.

I’ve felt this personally. I had a client where in the past they would pay us X dollars per class for me to go and teach. Well, a new leader came into the organization and said, “Well, we’re not going to pay you X anymore. We’re going to pay you 40% of X just because we want to because we think the price should be lower.” This was a very difficult situation for me because I took it personally. I couldn’t control those feelings in that moment because it was a personal attack. This person was telling me that I was worth 60% less just because he said so.

Now I know this isn’t what he meant. Logically, it made sense for him to push down the price that we were charging, and I had to step back from the negotiation, set aside the emotions, and approach it much more logically. However, that negotiation could have gone poorly for him because he created negative feelings with me.

Spend some time in your negotiations and think through, “How would I feel if I was on the other side of this offer?” Would I feel good, or would I feel bad? And think about how you position your offers to make sure you take advantage of feelings of emotions and fairness in the deal.

Want to learn more about strategic negotiation? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to set business unit goals. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

What Are We Missing???

September 29, 2025/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Employees need to know that what they do matters—how it matters, where it matters, how long it matters, for whom it matters, and why it matters.

Today’s guest post is by Wendy Lipton-Dibner, author of What MATTERS Matters Most.

They’d tried everything from bonuses to retreats, and while each intervention produced motivational boosts, the results were always short-lived.

In the meantime, disengagement was spreading throughout the organization, and their frustration was growing by the day.

“Nothing we do matters,” Brian sighed.

“Wait, that’s it!” Kathy exclaimed. “I bet that’s what everyone thinks!

“If our employees believe nothing they do matters, then why would they bother to step up?

“We need to give our entire team proof that what they do really matters.”

They called a lunch meeting for the following week and when they arrived, the auditorium was packed.

Kathy picked up the microphone. “Raise your hand if making an impact in people’s lives is important to you.”

Nearly every hand went up, so Kathy continued.

“Brian and I agree with you. Impact is important, and we think the work each of you do is likely creating a lot of impact.

“In fact, you could be enabling our products and services to deliver way more impact than we ever anticipated.

“It’s entirely possible that your work is creating ripple effects that bring ongoing impacts to multiple areas of our customers’ lives, and we intend to prove it!”

The attendees burst into applause as chants of, “Prove it! Prove it! Prove it!” reverberated throughout the auditorium.

Brian smiled broadly as Kathy instructed each department to make a quick list of the potential impacts their work produces.

The energy was electric as each team moved their chairs together to make a list of their impacts.

Next, Kathy told the group to discuss how they could purposefully infuse impact into existing and future products and services to increase customer engagement, loyalty and growth.

Finally, she invited each department to send a representative up to the stage to read their list.

Each presenter received applause that grew louder with every list that was shared.

“Let’s do a little research study,” Kathy challenged. “Starting today, we want every single one of you to prioritize impact-driven results in everything you do.

“We’ll do this for six months and see how this affects our metrics.

“Thank you for your enthusiasm today. We’ll keep you posted.”

Brian and Kathy stayed for more than an hour, shaking hands with leaders and employees as they expressed congratulations and asked about next steps.

The CMO and CFO stood watching. When everyone had left, they walked up to Brian and Kathy, shook their hands, and said, “Best. Meeting. Ever. What do you need from us?”

Over the next weeks and months, leaders reported increasing engagement among their employees, including increased productivity, initiative, collaboration, innovation, sales, and more.

Six months later, Kathy called the full team together again. This time, she celebrated their significantly increased metrics, spotlighting customer engagement, satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat and referral revenue.

At the close of the meeting, Kathy read a congratulatory email from one of their shareholders, and another from an inspired vendor offering a sponsorship.

Then Brian stepped up to the microphone. “I must confess, I never believed this initiative would work.

“I’m here to tell you guys, you proved me wrong. The impact you made on this organization, and on me personally, is something I will never forget. Thanks everyone!”

This story is just one of many that have shown what can happen when leaders prioritize impact in every area of their organization.

As a social scientist and decades-long organizational strategist, I’ve witnessed the damage employee disengagement inflicts on internal and external stakeholders.

I’ve also spoken with leaders who invested tens of thousands of dollars implementing respected solutions, only to rebound far worse than where they had started.

After serving more than 1,000 organizations in every industry from healthcare to hospitality, my research revealed a missing component that is critical to employee engagement.

The missing piece is also crucial for stakeholder loyalty and ongoing growth.

Bottom line, what leaders have been missing is proof of the ongoing, long-term, Real-World Impact of products and services.

Real-World Impact is the immediate, ongoing, and long-term changes, outcomes, differences, results, events, and experiences that occur after customers, patients, or beneficiaries receive the planned benefits of a product or service.

Employees need to know that the products and services they help research, innovate, develop, design, manufacture, market, sell, deliver, service, and support are creating an ongoing stream of desirable, meaningful, important, potentially life-changing impacts in multiple areas of customers’ lives over time.

Real-World Impact Metrics provide invaluable proof to employees that what they do matters—how it matters, where it matters, how long it matters, for whom it matters, and why it matters.

Real-World Impact Metrics also provide unprecedented proof to customers, patients, and beneficiaries, increasing the value they place on the products they use and the services they receive.

This proof is the missing piece that enables leaders to build and sustain impassioned engagement, unrivaled loyalty, and boundless growth among all stakeholders.

Can it really be that simple? Yes.

Wendy Lipton-Dibner is internationally recognized as the leading authority on Organizational Impact Strategy. President and CEO of Professional Impact, Inc., Wendy is the inventor of the Real-World Impact Metrics // Journey of Impact technology [ProveYourImpact.com], and author of What MATTERS Matters Most^™. [WhatMattersMattersMost.com]

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Fishing For Job Descriptions

July 14, 2025/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Career, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Training /by Trevor Jones

We often miss the mark when we write job descriptions. We’d be much better suited to understand the job vision before we list qualifications for a candidate.

Today’s post is by Bill Munn, author of Why Make Eagles Swim?

Dave is thirty-eight and manages a team of HR professionals. But he still remembers a peaceful day over thirty years ago when his father took him fishing for the first time.

For two weeks, Dave and his father had talked about the day they had planned. Dave’s dad described all the details of the sport – how to choose a lure, cast, tie a fisherman’s knot, and so on. Dave never tired of these descriptive details, which began to define fishing in his mind.

When the day of the outing finally arrived, they stayed on the lake from morning to dusk, covering all Dad’s favorite spots. Dave got to practice everything he had learned on shore.

But in the end, they caught nothing.

Dave was crestfallen. But later, he forgot his disappointment in the face of a big shock.

“How was it?” Dave’s mom asked when they walked in the back door.

“Fabulous,” his dad replied.

What? Dave thought. How can he think that when we caught nothing?

Later that evening, Dave shared his confusion with his father. The man smiled.

How to Inspire Your Team to Embrace a Sense of Urgency

June 16, 2025/0 Comments/in Books, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Training /by Trevor Jones

Your team needs to move with a sense of urgency. This doesn’t mean moving fast – it means moving with purpose. A group of firefighters can provide great insight into what moving with a sense of urgency means.

Today’s post is by Tom Pandola, author of Light a Fire Under Your Business.

One of the big issues in business today is how to motivate a young workforce. Anyone in a leadership position knows how difficult it can be to instill a certain level of engagement within their employees and associates. This can be a difficult task, but if you are in a leadership position and accountable for accomplishing important work through the efforts of others, you need to start leading as though it matters.

Much of what I have learned to be true about the subject of leadership was learned during my 25 years of firefighting in Los Angeles. The topic of motivating a sense of urgency within a workforce reminds me of one of the first greater alarm fires that I responded to as a rookie fresh out of the fire academy.

Try to picture a large commercial building in flames, with smoke billowing high into the sky. Imagine all of the actions taking place by the multitude of firefighters carrying ladders and hose lines in every direction, fire engines pumping large amounts of water, and the continuous roar caused by the fire consuming everything inside the building, including the structure itself. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins, and I was certainly taking on every task given to me with what I would consider an enormous sense of urgency!

Running toward the burning building tasked with delivering a piece of important equipment that was needed inside, I was confronted with an obstacle: a large pile of fire hose which resembled spaghetti on a dinner plate. I was moving fast with no time to slow down! So, I attempted to leap over the pile. As I caught my foot on a loop of hose, tripped, and fell face down onto the concrete sidewalk – my helmet along with that important equipment I was carrying all went flying. Everything that I was trying to deliver was now skidding across the ground with such a noisy clatter that it caught the attention of everyone within a hundred feet of me.

Stunned, I looked up and realized I had landed sprawled out at the foot of the deputy fire chief, who was in command of operations. Read more

How to Break Big Problems Into Small Ones

February 26, 2025/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

When you take big problems and spend the time break them into smaller and smaller ones, those smaller problems are much easier to solve.

One of the first steps in any good critical thinking process is taking a very big problem and breaking it down into smaller ones that you can actually solve. The time you invest thinking through what the components of the problem are is going to pay dividends on the backend when you look at the possible solutions because you’ll have a better sense for what recommendations and solutions to pursue and how those solutions help you solve the bigger problem.

Let me illustrate. So, let’s imagine we have a problem where our profits are down. That’s a huge issue to solve. We can’t solve that in and of itself. We have to look at smaller components of it. So, if we have a profit problem, we have two components. Either our revenues are down or our costs are up, or some combination of the two. But those are still very big problems to try to solve.

So, let’s break down revenues and what could be causing our revenue shortfall. Well, that’s either volumes are down or prices are down. And on volumes, that’s still a big issue. We may have a smaller issue of current customers are buying less or we’re selling less to prospective customers.

Now, on the cost side, the reason that costs could be up are either prices are up or we’re buying more stuff. If prices are up in terms of the stuff we’re buying, well, that could be a function of base prices are up or we’re getting less of a discount. When I take these big problems and I spend the time to think about breaking them into smaller and smaller ones, those smaller problems are much easier to solve.

What I’d encourage you to do is take a big problem you’re currently facing. Go find a whiteboard somewhere and ask yourself, “What’s that big problem composed of? What are the smaller issues that are driving the big problem?” Once you have those smaller issues, break them down again, and continue breaking those big problems down into smaller and smaller ones until you say, “Oh, I know how I might solve that component of it.”

When you can start seeing the solutions emerge, you’re moving from that problem identification stage to a problem solving stage. And the time you invest in dimensionalizing this problem solving space is going to help you solve problems more quickly and more effectively.

Want to learn more about critical thinking? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to think critically. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

7 Tips for Dealing With Irate Customers

February 18, 2025/0 Comments/in Communications, Customer Service, Guest Blogger, Sales, Training /by Trevor Jones

Dealing with angry customers can be one of the greatest challenges you face. Here are 7 tips for dealing with those difficult situations gracefully and effectively.

Today’s post is by Mark Goulston, author of “Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone”

One of the things that all irate customers have in common is that they have an attitude that says “I rate better service than this and now that I have you on the phone, you’re going to pay for it!” And one of the other things about them that gets to you is you feel unjustly accused of having done this to them and that can make it difficult to remain calm.

That is why the first three tips are about ways to remain or regain your calm and the final four about what to do next.

1. 3 Strikes and You’re Calm – 1. Think of the first thing you want to say or do in response to an irate customer (which is about defending or protecting yourself). Don’t do it, take a breath and exhale. 2. Then think of the second thing you want to say or do (which is about retaliating). Don’t do that, take a breath and exhale. 3. And finally think of the third thing you want to do (which is about finding a solution) and do that.

2. Assume innocence – Unless you are dealing with a truly evil person, assume that nothing is going right in the person’s life and they have chosen this interaction with you to displace all their frustration as a way of not taking it personally when it is meant for your company or product and not you.

The Importance of Critical Thinking

February 12, 2025/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Critical thinking helps you truly understand the problems you are facing and how to solve them.

Let’s look at the importance of critical thinking. So many times when people ask us can you solve this problem, we rush off and start solving it without stopping to think before we do. We’re facing new demands that require extensive amounts of information before we can make a decision.

As part of your problem solving process, there are going to be multiple stakeholders involved. This increases the complexity of trying to get to an answer. When you do ultimately come up with a recommendation, those big decisions will involve numerous trade-offs. Not everyone is going to be happy with what you recommend. There are going to be long lag times in acquiring the required data to make your decision, and when you finally do make the call, there’s going to be high scrutiny over whether you are right or wrong, and a bad call can have both business as well as personal and professional implications. Add to this unforeseen bottlenecks in getting to that answer, multiply it by the number of problems you’re trying to solve every single day, and then divide by the limited amount of time you have to get to an answer.

The importance of stopping and thinking critically before you rush off and undertake all these very comprehensive efforts is very high. The critical thinking process is what’s going to differentiate you and the solutions you develop versus rushing off without any thought at all.

Distinguish causes vs. consequences

As you begin your critical thinking efforts I’d like you to think about causes and consequences. One of the biggest challenges we’re going to face with any problem solving is that desire to rush off and get to an answer quickly, because we feel like we’re being responsive to our stakeholders when we do. But think about it—have you ever solved a symptom only to find out there are other symptoms that arise after you solve it? Have you ever put in place a recommendation only to find out you created new problems down the road?

When you’re going through this critical thinking process, first consider causes. Look at the symptom that is problematic, then figure out the real reason it’s happening and come at that possible symptom from multiple perspectives. Once you generate a recommendation, stop and think critically. What new problems can you create if you implement this recommendation? What are the new symptoms that will be caused? Think that through before you implement your recommendation.

Let me offer an example. I know of a client situation where the organization was going to roll out a brand new website that would be facing their customers. The problem was they continued to miss deadlines for rolling their website out and going live. Now let’s look at causes and consequences. What was the cause of the website not rolling out? Well, the code wasn’t ready. Yeah, but that’s a symptom, that’s a symptom of a problem. Why wasn’t the code ready? Well, the specifications weren’t done. Okay, well that’s also a symptom. Why weren’t the specs done? Well because they didn’t agree on the features and functionality of the new website. But let’s not stop there. Why was that symptom happening? Well, they weren’t given clarity by leadership around one aspect that was a major strategic decision in terms of how they would roll the website out. That was the cause of all these issues and why the rollout wasn’t happening.

Now let’s think through once that strategic decision is made what are the consequences of it? So leadership finally decided to make the website a closed network. Therefore, new customers would have to call in to register instead of registering on the website. That’s then going to flood the call center with incremental calls. The consequence of that is the staff in the call center is going to be overworked. And then a consequence of that is current customers are going to experience service issues, they won’t get their calls answered as quickly. And then a consequence of that is we might lose current customers.

When you go out to solve a problem think backwards about the causes, think forward about the consequences. Look at the causes, spend some time thinking about what’s really causing this issue. Continue to work backward until it’s clear you’re solving a problem and not a symptom. Then once you’ve generated a recommendation, think through the consequences. What are the new problems that could emerge if you implement your recommendation? Think about a problem that you made a recommendation on where it didn’t go so well. Which of these two did you miss? Did you miss the real root cause? Did you miss possible consequences of your recommendation?

By spending this extra time thinking about these aspects and putting in the critical thought, there’s a much higher likelihood that whatever recommendation you come up with is going to solve the true problem, and you’re going to account for some of the possible consequences down the road.

Want to learn more about critical thinking? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to think critically. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

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Use the 5 Whys of Critical Thinking

February 5, 2025/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Repeatedly asking yourself “why?” is an effective tool to get to the root cause of your problems and gain insights on how to solve them.

One of the most effective critical thinking tools I’ve ever come across is the five whys. When I was a young analyst as a consultant, I was at a client engagement, and I was responsible for doing a lot of analysis. One morning I did a bunch of analysis around some things that my client was purchasing. And when I went to lunch with my project manager, he said, “What have you been doing today?”

And I said, “Well, I was doing the analysis on this one category of spend.”

And he said, “Okay, what’d you learn?”

I said, “Well, I think this is happening.”

And he said, “Okay, well why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“Well, why is that happening? Why do you think that’s happening?”

I said, “I don’t know, maybe it’s this.”

And he said, “Okay, well why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“Well, why would that be happening?”

And I stopped and I thought, and I said, “Well, it might be this.”

And he said, “Well, why?” And I said, “Oh my gosh, what’s with the whys?”

And he said, “Mike, our job is to come to insights for our client. We can’t be satisfied with that first answer. We need to ask why and really understand cause. And by the time you ask the fourth or the fifth why, that’s where the real insight is. That’s why it’s the five whys.”

And I took that away from that day, and any time I was working on analysis from that point forward, I would ask why. Why am I seeing the numbers do this? And why is that happening? And why is that happening? Asking those five whys will lead you to insight.

Let me offer an example. Let’s say you’re working with a senior executive, and that senior executive says, “Hey, our stock price just plummeted.” “Okay, well why, why did that happen?” “Well, we missed our earnings.”

1. “Okay, well, why did that happen?”

“Well, because we were discounting our prices too much.”

2. “Okay, well, why were we doing that?”

“Well, because we wanted to retain our customers, so we were offering bigger discounts.”

3. “Okay, well, why are we trying to retain customers with discounts?”

“Well, because we want to grow market share.”

4. “Okay, well, why do we want to grow market share?”

“Well, because that’s what the incentive plan is tied to for all our managers and business unit presidents. The bigger the share, the bigger the bonus they get.”

5. “Well, what happens if we change the incentive plan?”

If we had just stopped at, “Hey, the stock price fell, and it’s because we missed earnings because we were discounting,” there’s no real insight there. When we keep asking why and peeling it back, we can identify what that true root cause is. Then we can solve it, then we can have an impact on the organization. The fifth why is where that real insight resides.

As you look at a problem you’re dealing with, when you see that issue, ask yourself why it’s happening, and ask why again, and again, and again. And by the time you get to that fourth or fifth why, hopefully a new insight will pop out and you’ll be able to start solving the real problem that will have a true impact on the organization.

Want to learn more about critical thinking? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to lead more effectively. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!