AI and Negotiation: How Planning is Evolving Fast
Planning in a Brave New World
There’s no doubt about it… Artificial Intelligence is changing the world, and negotiation is right in the middle of that shift. This is part one in a series of blog posts where I’ll be talking about AI’s growing role in negotiation and what it means for all of us.
Let’s start with one of the most important (and often overlooked) parts of negotiation: planning.
As someone who negotiates, coaches, teaches, and watches a whole lot of deals go down, I get asked this question all the time:
“Bob, what’s the biggest weakness you see in negotiators?”
It’s an easy one for me: people don’t plan well enough. Even seasoned pros. They jump in thinking they’ll wing it, rely on experience, or just “feel it out.” And hey, that might work sometimes, but not often enough.
Back in the Day…
Way back in our great-grandfathers’ day, planning mostly meant relying on your own experience and gut instinct. Folks didn’t travel much. They didn’t deal with a ton of people. So by the time someone hit 50 or 60, they’d learned a lot, but it was all based on their personal life and what they’d seen.
In your grandfather’s time, it evolved a bit. You still leaned on your own experience, but now you had access to other people’s stories too, neighbors, co-workers, folks at the diner. You learned from them face-to-face.
When your dad came along, planning started to mean heading to the library. Remember the Dewey Decimal System? If you were lucky, you’d find a book or article that gave you a new angle or strategy.
Then the internet hit, and it blew the doors wide open. Now you could research anything, anytime. You didn’t have to know the right person; you just had to know the right search term.
Now We’ve Got AI… and It’s a Whole New Ballgame
Artificial Intelligence isn’t just the next step forward, it’s a leap. A moonshot. Light years beyond even the best Google search.
AI can dig through mountains of data in seconds, market trends, past negotiation results, and the behavior patterns of the person sitting across the table from you. It doesn’t just help you understand the past, it helps you predict the future. It gives you a roadmap, not just a rearview mirror.
Let’s say you’re prepping for a big deal. AI can help you figure out what kind of opening offer is most likely to get traction based on real outcomes, not just guesses.
But Here’s the Thing…
AI is powerful, no doubt. But it’s not magic.
What my grandparents used to call “horse sense” still matters. That gut instinct, the ability to read people, to really see what’s going on beneath the surface, that’s what separates a decent negotiator from a great one.
Years ago, I attended the Harvard Program on Negotiation. Great program, full of sharp minds. I remember one professor saying:
“The most important skill is understanding the underlying drivers of the other party.”
That’s true. But the old-timers I knew growing up in Texas had their own way of saying it:
“Bob, you better know what makes that guy tick.”
Different words, same wisdom.
Trust Still Matters
Here’s something AI can’t do: build trust.
Trust doesn’t come from data or algorithms. It comes from time. From showing up, doing what you say you’ll do, and doing it again and again. That’s how real relationships are built.
I remember my dad talking about a man he’d done business with for years. He said:
“Son, you could play poker with that man over the phone.”
That’s trust. And no machine’s gonna replicate that.
Try This: Your AI Homework
We’ll talk more in the next blog about where AI shines and where it stumbles. But in the meantime, here’s a little assignment:
If you’re new to AI, play around with it this week. It’s not as scary or complicated as it sounds.
If you’ve already been using it, great, keep going. But pay attention to where it really helps, and also where it just doesn’t cut it.
Notice where your instincts still matter. Where trust still counts. And where no machine is going to know “what makes that guy tick.”
Until next time, good negotiating to you.
“I only do three things. I teach people to negotiate more effectively.
I coach teams through important negotiations when the results matter.
I speak at associations and conventions to inform and entertain.”
If you have a need for any of those, let’s talk.
415-517-8150
bgibson@negotiatingwisdom.com