PodcastsBusinessAll Things Negotiation

All Things Negotiation

Stan Christensen
All Things Negotiation
Latest episode

49 episodes

  • All Things Negotiation

    How to Have Difficult Conversations with Sheila Heen

    27/05/2026 | 56 mins.
    Stan interviews longtime friend and Harvard professor Sheila Heen about why difficult conversations derail and how to handle them more effectively.
    They discuss the “hero/villain/victim” stories people tell when frustrated, how smart people can listen poorly by focusing on what’s wrong, and why many conflicts are “switch-track” disagreements where each person thinks the conversation is about something different.
    The conversation also covers political polarization, complex identities, and Heen’s course on negotiating money, wealth, happiness, and meaning.

    00:00 Intro
    03:06 What Makes Talks Hard
    04:30 Avoidance And Timing
    06:53 Family Conversation Traps
    08:54 Hero Villain Victim
    10:06 Respond To Feelings
    12:40 Switch Track Conversations
    14:25 Empathy Versus Assertion
    18:04 Loss
    19:43 Intent Versus Impact
    20:33 Comment Dilemma
    23:15 Intent/Impact Lesson
    27:34 Beyond Blame To Contribution
    29:50 Identity Fuels Polarization
    33:00 Antidotes To Political Divide
    34:50 Marriage Conflicts That Persist
    38:41 Negotiating Money And Self Worth
    42:36 Money Talks For Couples
    49:01 Lifestyle Creep And Meaning
    51:57 Lightning Round Conversation Tools
    54:58 Resources And Farewell
    Check out Sheila at: https://www.stoneandheen.com/training-consulting
    Buy Her Book: https://www.stoneandheen.com/
    Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.
  • All Things Negotiation

    Negotiating the New Cold War with China

    12/05/2026 | 51 mins.
    China expert Rush Doshi explains how the US should negotiate and compete with China amid deep mutual distrust and differing views of intentions.
    Rush Doshi is regarded as one of the leading voices on US policy toward China, and he argues that China’s strategy shifts with its perception of American power—ebbing and flowing with the state of US policy decisions.
    Stan and Rush discuss his insight from being in a key figure in the rooms of prior negotiations and how that shapes his view of the current state of US policies: what works and what doesn't.Rush points out the key weakness the US has when squaring up to China on the international stage, but he also shares what the US can do to win the competition.
    Check out Rush's book: https://www.rushdoshi.com/thelonggame
    01:41 China Reads US Power
    03:00 From Biding Time To Boldness
    04:16 Why Beijing Feels Confident
    05:11 Managing Distrustful Talks
    08:14 Biden Era Negotiation Phases
    10:06 Trade War And Rare Earth Shock
    13:58 Strategic Versus Tactical Bargaining
    16:30 Scale Decides Great Powers
    21:53 Allied Scale As The Answer
    24:08 Using Leverage With Allies
    25:24 Tariffs After Court Ruling
    25:51 Allied Scale For Minerals
    27:33 Sticks Versus Strategy
    28:03 Domestic Politics And Blowback
    30:45 Distraction And Strategic Opportunity
    32:13 Taiwan Policy In Flux
    34:22 Chips Deals And Credibility
    37:27 Strategic Ambiguity And Stability
    41:07 Managed Competition Framework
    46:08 Russia Ukraine And China4
    8:12 Making The Case At Home
    50:27 Congress And Closing Thoughts
    Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.
  • All Things Negotiation

    Sal Khan on AI, Education, and the Future of Work

    21/04/2026 | 50 mins.
    Sal Khan reflects on growing Khan Academy from tutoring cousins in 2004 into a nonprofit serving nearly 200 million registered users across 50+ languages with 350 staff, driven by a mission of free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Sal shares how he negotiated with himself and his collaborators to keep Khan Academy a non-profit organization that's mission-driven. He dives into the most prominent issues facing education today including systemic problems inherited from the incumbents in the space, as well as new challenges and opportunities being ushered in with the rise of AI technology.

    Check out schoolhouse.world.
    http://schoolhouse.world/

    Please consider donating to Khan Academy
    http://khanacademy.org/donate

    00:00 Khan Academy Scale
    00:27 Why It Became An Institution
    02:05 Origin Story Tutoring Cousins
    04:15 Money Versus Mission
    06:51 Why Stay Nonprofit
    09:52 Working With School Systems
    12:52 Winning Teacher Trust
    15:58 District Negotiations And Privacy
    19:09 OpenAI Outreach And GPT-4 Demo
    22:10 Building Conmigo AI Tutor
    23:39 Beyond Tutoring Writing And Cheating
    24:03 AI Writing Coach Workflow
    24:50 Assessing Soft Skills
    26:27 Next Gen Standardized Tests
    26:56 Scaling Durable Skills Training
    28:20 Why He Wrote Brave New Words
    32:50 Rethinking What Schools Teach
    33:26 Who Sets Curriculum Signals
    37:13 Job Shock and Automation Fears
    39:28 Who Pays for Reskilling
    43:20 Screen Time and Healthy Tech
    45:18 Can Khan Reduce Inequality
    47:28 Global Impact Stories Wrap Up

    Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.
  • All Things Negotiation

    Robert O'brien: An Insider's View on How Trump Actually Negotiates

    01/04/2026 | 35 mins.
    Former Trump Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs and National Security Advisor Robert C. O’Brien discusses behind-the-scenes negotiation lessons from hostage cases and major foreign-policy deals.
    O’Brien describes his approach as implementing President Trump’s decisions, crediting that alignment for successes including the Abraham Accords.
    He gives a candid look at what operations inside the Trump administration looks like. Robert and Stan weigh the merits and perils of Trump's personal negotiating style and the effects it might have on the U.S standing in the world.

    00:00 Trump Negotiation Style
    00:26 Meet Robert OBrien
    01:39 ASAP Rocky Case
    03:30 Tough Talk With Sweden
    05:27 From Hostages To NSA
    07:27 Abraham Accords Breakthrough
    10:59 Kushner And Internal Pushback
    12:07 West Bank Red Line
    14:25 Maximalism And Greenland
    17:35 Unpredictability And Kissinger
    19:48 Taiwan And China Strategy
    21:55 Allies And Burden Sharing
    24:38 Soleimani And Syria Deal
    27:51 Erdogan And Long Term Ties
    31:17 Negotiation Skills And Unity

    Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.
  • All Things Negotiation

    Fareed Zakaria: Navigating a World of Rising Powers and Shifting Alliances

    12/03/2026 | 46 mins.
    In this conversation with Fareed Zakaria, the discussion centers on negotiation as the core of foreign policy and the danger of confusing tactical success with strategic clarity.
    Zakaria weighs in on the U.S conflict in Iran and shares a dire warning about how it could affect U.S negotiations for years to come.
    Stan and Fareed discuss a wide range of bilateral relationships and the potential risk of an “imperial trap” we might be falling into as we erode trust and the post-1945 order.

    Check out Fareed on his podcast:
    https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/fareed-zakaria-gps
    And CNN: https://podcasts.apple.com/iq/podcast/fareed-zakaria-gps/id377785090

    00:00 Tactics vs Strategy
    01:33 Iran Talks Undermined
    03:46 Israel US Goals Diverge
    06:00 Iraq Lessons and Aims
    08:20 Pressuring Israel
    12:25 China Reads the Signals
    15:11 Tariffs and Trust
    18:01 Allies and Supply Chains
    21:55 India and Turkey
    23:11 Turkey Drifts Westward
    23:59 Pressuring Putin to Talk
    25:43 Both Sides and Overreach
    28:50 Norms Versus Guardrails
    32:00 Why Congress Stays Silent
    35:35 Can GOP Reclaim Reagan
    38:03 Democrats and Culture Wars
    42:10 Great Negotiators and Wrap

    Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.
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About All Things Negotiation
A podcast about negotiation, persuasion, and influence—taught through real stories. Hosted by Stan Christensen, who has taught negotiation at Stanford University for over 20 years, this bi-weekly podcast features founders, executives, investors, and foreign policy experts sharing real-world negotiation experiences. Episodes explore how leaders negotiate with venture capitalists, employees, customers, boards, and governments—and what actually works when the stakes are high.
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