Lessons from a Skilled Negotiator

Wharton's Wharton@Work newsletter profiled Ceyhun after he completed the school's Negotiation and Influence: Making Deals and Strategy Work program, exploring what an executive who negotiates large enterprise technology deals for a living took away from it.

Even with years spent negotiating against competitors like Accenture, IBM, Deloitte, EY, and the major Indian IT firms, and dealing directly with client CIOs, CFOs, and procurement leaders, the program reframed negotiation as a strategic discipline rather than a set of tactics. The core idea: prepare to understand what the other party needs before you ever sit down.

"Never go in unless you have studied the other party in detail."

Three lessons stood out as the ones that changed how negotiations get approached day to day:

• Know the other side, thoroughly Do the preliminary work. Study the facts and the industry benchmarks going in, then use active listening during the negotiation itself to piece together what actually matters to the other party — rather than assuming it.
• Find the ZOPA before you try to claim it The "Zone of Possible Agreement" is the full range of value available to both sides — the whole pie. Locating it is part of preparation, not a tactic. Once it's clear, both sides can work to expand it together before anyone tries to claim a larger share.
• Earn credibility before asking for trust Authority, expertise, and transparency are what get the other side to genuinely listen. Being willing to make reasonable concessions — even when not required to — signals that a deal, not a stalemate, is the real goal.

The article also touches on a fourth thread that runs through the whole piece: relationships outlast any single deal, and a shaky negotiation can often be recovered if there's a relationship to fall back on. That held true even in the shift to negotiating over video calls — matching the seniority and preparation of an in-person negotiation, just delivered differently.