Lessons from Prof. Robert Mnookin

July 16, 2019, Tuesday

I have classmates whose first language is not English.   They have difficulty expressing themselves and articulating their thoughts.  Our Professor,  Robert H. Mnookin,  is so patient and understanding.  He sees beyond the grammatical errors and focuses on what his students are trying to express.    He doesn’t even try to correct their sentence construction.  He just tries to understand the person’s thoughts and meaning.

Prof. Mnookin has authored at least 6 books which include Bargaining with the Devil:  When to Negotiate, When to Fight among others.

He is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project.  For 25 years he chaired the Program on Negotiation at HLS.  He is a leading scholar in the field of conflict resolution, a renowned teacher and lecturer throughout the world.

He began teaching law at UC Berkeley in 1972.  At Stanford University from 1981-1993. A visiting Fellow at Oxford University, a visiting professor of Law at Columbia Law School and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.   He was a professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation.  He received his A.B. in Economics from Harvard College in 1964 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1968.  After law school, he was a law clerk for Justice John Harlan on the United States Supreme Court.

Prof. Mnookin said:

1.  It’s hard to negotiate if the other party has unrealistic expectations.   Difficulties created by the tactics employed by the other side make the negotiation or settlement difficult.
2. Most lawyers are good in arguing but lousy in listening and understanding.
3. Exercise the Power of Fairness.  When asking for an amount, explain why.  Don’t just give a number because you want it.
4. We should all care about our reputation.  Don’t behave dishonorably.