Negotiation skills are critical for CIOs

Whether it's an outsourcing agreement or a supplier contract, CIOs are getting more involved with corporate negotiations. And according to authors Danny Ertel and Mark Gordon, CIOs have as much stake as anyone in well crafted agreements. The question is, are they teaching this in CIO school? In their upcoming book, The Point of the Deal: How to Negotiate When Yes Is Not Enough (Harvard Business School Press, October 2007), the authors write that negotiating a good deal means more than winning on price or other terms. "If implementation matters, then the deal itself cannot be the end goal. We have seen myriad examples of clever procurement people losing sight of the real purpose in negotiating deals with a supplier, striking deals that looked good at the outset, but failing to accomplish what they needed." The need for a working relationship after the ink on the contract has dried is important and, like everything else, preparation is essential. "Part of bringing an implementation mindset to your negotiations is to keep your focus on the end goal and all the things (including, but not limited to, an agreement) required to get there. Our best advice is not to be quiet and circumspect regarding implementation, but to be unabashedly explicit about your goals and concerns for that phase."

For a full look at the book excerpt:
- see the article in CIO Insight