As the course description in the syllabus states, the
skills that one learns in this course are essential to anyone conducting
business within the entertainment industry. Negotiating is an ability, like
most, that needs practicing and nurturing to get to a level where it appears to
be second nature to an individual. As I have used my past experience to relate
to many of the courses within this program, those experiences really came in
handy when it came to developing the negotiator within me. As I have said
before in one of the previous courses below, most of the tactics shown to us in
this course was nothing new to me, rather what was new was learning how to
properly identify those tactics and how to best put them to work correctly and
effectively. In a negotiation, there will always be a give and take; a prepared
negotiator however will always have an alternative plan (BATNA) in hand when
walking into a negotiation. Topics such as BATNA and looking for mutual benefit
in deal-making are two aspects that I believe a leader should do when sitting
down at a negotiation table.
The best part of this course was when we touched up on
game theory. Game theory is basically strategic decision making. Researching and
analyzing scenarios through game theory allows one to see a multitude of
outcomes and then choose the best course of action one should take. Game theory
is also a skill one needs to practice in order to develop, and it is something
that I have been continuously trying to implement into my professional life.
Since this course ended I have been putting my negotiating skills to use and I personally
do think that because of the real-world practice I have had, I am a better
negotiator today than I was six months ago.
