Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills

Successful Negotiation is one of Coursera's most-enrolled courses across any subject, with over 1.4 million learners — a signal that negotiation skill is broadly wanted but poorly taught in most professional settings. George Siedel teaches a four-stage negotiation framework: prepare (interests, BATNA, opening position), negotiate (tactics, psychology, common mistakes), close (creating and signing agreements), and perform (the aftermath of a deal). He grounds it in both business cases and the underlying behavioral research rather than treating it as a list of tricks.

It's relevant far beyond formal contract negotiations — the same framework applies to salary discussions, internal resource decisions, vendor management, and any situation where two parties with different interests need to reach agreement.