All Things Negotiation

A podcast about negotiation, persuasion, and influence—taught through real stories.Hosted by Stan Christensen, who has taught negotiation at Stanford University for over 20 years, this bi-weekly podcast features founders, executives, investors, and foreign policy experts sharing real-world negotiation experiences.Episodes explore how leaders negotiate with venture capitalists, employees, customers, boards, and governments—and what actually works when the stakes are high.

All Things Negotiation is a education podcast hosted by Stan Christensen, with 52 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Stan Christensen hosts All Things Negotiation, a education show with 52 episodes published.

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  All Things Negotiation

  Christa Gannon: Negotiating With Kids the System Gave Up On

  Jun 30, 202655 min

  Stan interviews Christa Gannon about founding Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY) after volunteering with incarcerated teens and asking what could have prevented their involvement with the justice system. A former UC Santa Barbara basketball All-American and Stanford Law graduate, Gannon describes negotiating with fear to take a nontraditional path, learning entrepreneurial lessons from sports, and using deep listening to co-design programs with youth around legal education, mentoring, and leadership development. She discusses the demographics and trauma many justice-involved youth face, the use of role plays to teach life skills and conflict resolution, and the importance of authenticity, consistency, and humility in earning trust. The conversation covers persuading system stakeholders and donors with shared goals, outcomes, and youth-centered storytelling, plus FLY’s results in reducing recidivism and building hope, and Gannon’s later transition from CEO and her work supporting leadership transitions. Check out FLY: https://flyprogram.org 00:00 Vision Beyond Prison 00:22 Choosing a Different Path 02:29 Claiming the Torch 04:23 Athlete Mindset for Leadership 05:52 Juvenile Hall Catalyst 07:31 Founding FLY Mission 09:00 Credibility and Permission 10:49 Who the Youth Are 13:23 Deep Listening Co Creation 15:36 Teaching Through Role Plays1 8:21 Persuading Systems and Stakeholders 20:06 Authenticity Builds Buy In 23:02 Trust Story Football Mentor 25:34 Role Plays in Real Life 26:28 Mentor Program Lesson 27:51 Volunteer Consistency Matters 29:19 Parents Gangs Ripple Effects 31:56 Replacing Gang Belonging 32:34 Justice System Stakeholders 34:43 Donors Stories Ethics 39:10 Measuring Youth Outcomes 40:32 Teaching Conflict Skills 41:44 Meeting Kids Where They Are 44:34 Work Family Balance 48:29 Founder Transition Bridge 50:28 Transition Advice Closing Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.

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  All Things Negotiation

  How to Have Difficult Conversations with Sheila Heen

  May 27, 202656 min

  Stan interviews longtime friend and Harvard professor Sheila Heen about why difficult conversations derail and how to handle them more effectively. They discuss the “hero/villain/victim” stories people tell when frustrated, how smart people can listen poorly by focusing on what’s wrong, and why many conflicts are “switch-track” disagreements where each person thinks the conversation is about something different. The conversation also covers political polarization, complex identities, and Heen’s course on negotiating money, wealth, happiness, and meaning. 00:00 Intro 03:06 What Makes Talks Hard 04:30 Avoidance And Timing 06:53 Family Conversation Traps 08:54 Hero Villain Victim 10:06 Respond To Feelings 12:40 Switch Track Conversations 14:25 Empathy Versus Assertion 18:04 Loss 19:43 Intent Versus Impact 20:33 Comment Dilemma 23:15 Intent/Impact Lesson 27:34 Beyond Blame To Contribution 29:50 Identity Fuels Polarization 33:00 Antidotes To Political Divide 34:50 Marriage Conflicts That Persist 38:41 Negotiating Money And Self Worth 42:36 Money Talks For Couples 49:01 Lifestyle Creep And Meaning 51:57 Lightning Round Conversation Tools 54:58 Resources And Farewell Check out Sheila at: https://www.stoneandheen.com/training-consulting Buy Her Book: https://www.stoneandheen.com/ Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.

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  All Things Negotiation

  Negotiating the New Cold War with China

  May 12, 202652 min

  China expert Rush Doshi explains how the US should negotiate and compete with China amid deep mutual distrust and differing views of intentions. Rush Doshi is regarded as one of the leading voices on US policy toward China, and he argues that China’s strategy shifts with its perception of American power—ebbing and flowing with the state of US policy decisions. Stan and Rush discuss his insight from being in a key figure in the rooms of prior negotiations and how that shapes his view of the current state of US policies: what works and what doesn't.Rush points out the key weakness the US has when squaring up to China on the international stage, but he also shares what the US can do to win the competition. Check out Rush's book: https://www.rushdoshi.com/thelonggame 01:41 China Reads US Power 03:00 From Biding Time To Boldness 04:16 Why Beijing Feels Confident 05:11 Managing Distrustful Talks 08:14 Biden Era Negotiation Phases 10:06 Trade War And Rare Earth Shock 13:58 Strategic Versus Tactical Bargaining 16:30 Scale Decides Great Powers 21:53 Allied Scale As The Answer 24:08 Using Leverage With Allies 25:24 Tariffs After Court Ruling 25:51 Allied Scale For Minerals 27:33 Sticks Versus Strategy 28:03 Domestic Politics And Blowback 30:45 Distraction And Strategic Opportunity 32:13 Taiwan Policy In Flux 34:22 Chips Deals And Credibility 37:27 Strategic Ambiguity And Stability 41:07 Managed Competition Framework 46:08 Russia Ukraine And China4 8:12 Making The Case At Home 50:27 Congress And Closing Thoughts Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.

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  All Things Negotiation

  Sal Khan on AI, Education, and the Future of Work

  Apr 21, 202650 min

  Sal Khan reflects on growing Khan Academy from tutoring cousins in 2004 into a nonprofit serving nearly 200 million registered users across 50+ languages with 350 staff, driven by a mission of free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Sal shares how he negotiated with himself and his collaborators to keep Khan Academy a non-profit organization that's mission-driven. He dives into the most prominent issues facing education today including systemic problems inherited from the incumbents in the space, as well as new challenges and opportunities being ushered in with the rise of AI technology. Check out schoolhouse.world. http://schoolhouse.world/ Please consider donating to Khan Academy http://khanacademy.org/donate 00:00 Khan Academy Scale 00:27 Why It Became An Institution 02:05 Origin Story Tutoring Cousins 04:15 Money Versus Mission 06:51 Why Stay Nonprofit 09:52 Working With School Systems 12:52 Winning Teacher Trust 15:58 District Negotiations And Privacy 19:09 OpenAI Outreach And GPT-4 Demo 22:10 Building Conmigo AI Tutor 23:39 Beyond Tutoring Writing And Cheating 24:03 AI Writing Coach Workflow 24:50 Assessing Soft Skills 26:27 Next Gen Standardized Tests 26:56 Scaling Durable Skills Training 28:20 Why He Wrote Brave New Words 32:50 Rethinking What Schools Teach 33:26 Who Sets Curriculum Signals 37:13 Job Shock and Automation Fears 39:28 Who Pays for Reskilling 43:20 Screen Time and Healthy Tech 45:18 Can Khan Reduce Inequality 47:28 Global Impact Stories Wrap Up Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.

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  All Things Negotiation

  Robert O'brien: An Insider's View on How Trump Actually Negotiates

  Apr 1, 202636 min

  Former Trump Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs and National Security Advisor Robert C. O’Brien discusses behind-the-scenes negotiation lessons from hostage cases and major foreign-policy deals. O’Brien describes his approach as implementing President Trump’s decisions, crediting that alignment for successes including the Abraham Accords. He gives a candid look at what operations inside the Trump administration looks like. Robert and Stan weigh the merits and perils of Trump's personal negotiating style and the effects it might have on the U.S standing in the world. 00:00 Trump Negotiation Style 00:26 Meet Robert OBrien 01:39 ASAP Rocky Case 03:30 Tough Talk With Sweden 05:27 From Hostages To NSA 07:27 Abraham Accords Breakthrough 10:59 Kushner And Internal Pushback 12:07 West Bank Red Line 14:25 Maximalism And Greenland 17:35 Unpredictability And Kissinger 19:48 Taiwan And China Strategy 21:55 Allies And Burden Sharing 24:38 Soleimani And Syria Deal 27:51 Erdogan And Long Term Ties 31:17 Negotiation Skills And Unity Host Stan Christensen has spent his career working as a professional negotiator in a variety of arenas. He has also taught a popular course on negotiation at Stanford University for over twenty years.

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