“Talent is the bedrock of every successful organization. As the workplace shifts from corporate ladder to corporate lattice principles, companies need to create environments where top talent can thrive. This book shows what individuals and organizations alike can do to make this happen now.”
—Cathy Benko, vice chairman and managing principal, Deloitte LLP
“Negotiating at Work is for leaders and organizations looking to bridge the gap between wanting to improve the diversity of senior leadership and actually doing it. It is an invaluable guide to creating a culture that enables all of our most talented leaders to succeed. A very worthy read!”
—David A. Thomas, PhD, dean, William R. Berkley Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University; coauthor, Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America
“If it were only about having the ‘right’ experience, we wouldn't have the lack of women in senior leadership we do today. There are still barriers—seen and unseen—that block women from the top. Learning how to negotiate these is a must for women and the organizations that need them to succeed. This book shows you how. I highly recommend it!”
—Herminia Ibarra, the Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning, INSEAD
“The fact is that the world is not a level playing field—especially for women. Deborah Kolb's latest book will challenge the status quo: it argues that negotiation is a litmus test for advancement. That we all overlook daily opportunities to turn small wins into much bigger gains. And that those bigger gains are powerful game-changers for us as individuals, and for our organizations that desperately need to help pave the way for a more diversified pool of leaders. Adopt Kolb's new approach and practices, and you will help create a better world in which progressive, modern leadership approaches pervade.”
—John Gerzema, chairman, CEO, WPP Group's BAV Consulting; New York Times best-selling author, including The Athena Doctrine: How Women (and the Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule the Future
“Big change starts small. When we learn how to advocate and negotiate for the things that help us succeed at work, it can have a profoundly positive effect on others, in all parts of our lives. Deborah Kolb's contribution of bringing this idea into clear, practical focus is awesome!”
—Stew Friedman, author, Leading the Life You Want and Total Leadership
“Tremendously resonant for women everywhere—across cultures, professions, or career stage. Deborah Kolb helps women see they can choose this and that instead of this or that in a way that brings meaningful change for them and those that follow.”
—Vicki Wilde, founder, former director, African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD)
“My daughter Allison is a VP of Intuit, and I've told her that Negotiating at Work is a must-read for every woman executive. Building on Kolb's earlier seminal work, this book provides practical advice for executives whose critical negotiations typically take place within organizations and in the context of ongoing relationships. By providing a conceptual framework for thinking about how negotiations play out in organizations, the book suggests how ‘small wins’ can be used to change an organization's culture and accumulate to big gains.”
—Robert H. Mnookin, Williston Professor of Law; director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project; chair, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
“There is nobody better placed than Deborah Kolb to write the book on negotiating positive change for women in the workplace. From decades of advising some of the country's most successful women, Dr. Kolb shares her knowledge on how to frame and negotiate issues that can impede a woman's career—steps that can have a profoundly positive effect on others and on the organization as a whole. Simply a must-read!”
—Robin Ely, Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Senior Associate Dean for Culture and Community, Harvard Business School
“Are you trying to hammer out agreements on budgets, hiring lines, priority for your projects, or buy-in from senior management? Let Deborah Kolb's new book be your trustworthy guide to solving these and the host of other tricky negotiations every leader faces at the office. Research-based, easy-to-read, and actionable, Negotiating at Work will show you how to get great deals even as you enhance your organizational credibility.”
—G. Richard Shell, author, Bargaining for Advantage; director, Wharton School's Executive Negotiation Workshop
“This is a must-read for all women negotiating at work—and for those who are supporting their careers. It goes beyond the common perceptions and the academic research to advocate, but provides proven and highly practical negotiating strategies and tactics. Debbie Kolb has made another essential and insightful contribution to winning in the workplace—for yourself and your organization.”
—Sheila Penrose, chairman, JLL; cochairman, Corporate Leadership Center
“Debbie Kolb has the unique ability to integrate respected research and personal stories of accomplished executives into lessons we can all benefit from as we negotiate for career success. Negotiating at Work captures her years of experience working with executives generally, and women in particular, to provide examples that anyone can adapt to change the game within their organization. The big lesson is that by negotiating on our own behalf, we can improve the odds of success for others and for the organization as a whole. Negotiating at Work is a compelling read because each of us can put its practical advice to work, at work and at home, as soon as we put the book down.”
—Cheryl A. Francis, cochairman, Corporate Leadership Center
“Negotiating at Work provides vital new insights that strengthen our understanding of negotiation as a tool for individual gain, while expanding its potential for organizational change. Deborah Kolb and Jessica Porter reveal how negotiations occur in organizational contexts, which in turn shape what is legitimate to negotiate and how negotiations are received. By focusing on negotiations around everyday issues in the workplace, such as work schedules and resources to do one's job, the authors broaden our conception of what can be negotiated and how individual negotiations can both lead to small wins for the individual and change organizational practices for the betterment of others. This framework illuminates how challenging the status quo can create opportunities to examine assumptions, norms, and practices that may be holding individuals and organizations back.”
—Shelley J. Correll, professor of sociology, the Barbara D. Finberg Director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Stanford University
“Deborah Kolb, one of the foremost experts in women and leadership, has created an extraordinary guide. It presents the best research, compelling and instructive case studies, and the most practical solutions you will find anywhere to help women—and men—negotiate small wins that create big gains for themselves and their organizations. A not-to-be-missed book!”
—Ellen Galinsky, president, Families and Work Institute
“This deeply researched and case study–driven book does an exceptional job of laying out the subtle, yet very real, challenges women face in the workplace that can derail careers and offers the precise strategies and tools needed to negotiate them well. This book will drive immediate change for women and the organizations that need them.”
—Linda Babcock, James M. Walton Professor of Economics, Carnegie Mellon University; coauthor, Women Don't Ask
“Every man and woman concerned with increasing the success of his or her career and organization should read this book. Kolb and Porter frame negotiation in three startling new ways: as a means for awakening us all to the assumptions, biases, and arrangements that constrain our opportunities and effectiveness at work; as a technique for members of marginalized groups to change the conversation and thrive at work; and as a potential tipping-point event leading to the kinds of reforms and re-visioning of our places of work that can make us proud and prosperous. Read it.”
—Peter Coleman, professor, psychology and education; director, International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, Columbia University
“I love this book. It is filled with ideas about how women can negotiate for changes that benefit themselves, but which can also help the company as a whole. These ideas will help women at all levels of an organization, but the insights also apply more broadly. I wish I had read it years ago.”
—Dr. Paul D. McKinnon, Harvard Business School; former head of HR, Dell and Citigroup
“Negotiating at Work will walk you through what does and what does not work in day-to-day negotiations at organizations, covering a wide range of topics such as how to deal with resistance, identify problems, recognize negotiating opportunities, offer creative solutions, build bridges with your negotiation partners, and claim your value. If you want to successfully negotiate for yourself and your organization, this is a must-read book, full of practical research-based ideas, insightful for the just emerging to the most senior professionals.”
—Boris Groysberg, professor, Harvard Business School; author, Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance
“The unnerving reality is that most organizations still struggle to ensure that the best minds get to the top. Women, especially, must take full advantage of every available skill, tool, and opportunity to advance. Deborah Kolb makes a fresh argument in her latest and best book yet, Negotiating at Work, as she shows how we all can better capitalize on every day's ‘small wins’ for greater gains—for ourselves, for the women around and behind us, and for our organizations. I recommend this book wholeheartedly because in these times, when women win, we all win. Buy a copy for yourself—and send one to someone you mentor—today.”
—Mary Davis Holt, partner, Flynn Heath Holt; New York Times best-selling author, Break Your Own Rules
“I recommend Negotiating at Work to everyone who believes in their greater potential. Regardless of your level, you'll gain strategies and skills that have the power to reshape assignments, advancement, and even lives for the benefit of you, those around you, and those who follow you. This book is also for those in positions to eliminate institutional biases that get in the way of many talented leaders.”
—Farah Pandith, key architect, Women in Public Service Project; consultant, author, and speaker