Quotes from Jim Camp

If you're not working on behalf of your own mission and purpose, you're working on behalf of someone else's.

Whether we like it or not, it really is a jungle out there in the world of business, and it's crawling with predators. In my work I often use the image "dance with the tiger," because the tiger is viewed or even worshiped around the world as the ultimate predator. To dance well—to negotiate well—we must hear the music, we must feel the music, we must be tuned in to our partner—our "adversary"—at all times,

Be ready to walk away. Remember, you only want this deal, you do not need this deal.

Should you simply walk away, no hard feelings? Whatever your decision, it will be a good one, because you have retained control of the negotiation.

being right is very important to most of us. It is a powerful need, and like all needs, it must be overcome.

treat every warm call as though it's the coldest one you ever made. When emotions run hot and heavy in negotiations, the high-pitched voice is a sure sign of need. The rushed delivery is another sure sign. While needy negotiators raise their voices, negotiators under control lower their voices. So lower your voice in times of inner turmoil. Slow down.

if our own mission and purpose is too cloudy, we make it difficult for our adversary to make a decision? The same thing goes with questions.

What you had to say was important to this individual, and she or he wanted to listen. Just to be listened to can bring good thoughts to mind.

When the going gets tough in a negotiation, your biggest challenge will be your ability to nurture your adversary in spite of everything else going on.

The reverse should be preceded by a short nurturing statement, because you don't want to sound like a district attorney during cross-examination.

There can be no saving of the adversary emotionally, intellectually, financially, or on any level. No. None.

Another problem with concentrating on money and power as a mission and purpose is that you're scorekeeping, and scorekeeping means you're thinking about results over which you have no real control.

But even if you're good at blank slating, have no expectations and no assumptions, listen well, take great notes, refrain from excessive talking, and don't spill beans—even if you're the perfect blank slater, the world outside the negotiation can still intrude on your ability to blank slate. If you're overly tired, it's difficult to focus.

With both mission and purpose and pain you're in great shape, but without both you're wandering in the desert.

We greatly enhance our opportunity for a successful deal by putting the adversary first in our mission and purpose. You make your killing—or just a solid profit—only by entering heart and soul into your adversary's world, business, needs, requirements, hopes, fears, and plans.

If we can state our mission and purpose simply and concisely, we can create the vision we want. If we get too complicated, too convoluted, we cloud the vision.

You want your human adversaries to see the pain, but you do not want to hit them between the eyes with it. You soften the blow, so to speak, with nurturing.

do." You must continuously analyze and ask yourself: What is my business? What is my mission? What is my purpose? As you set a valid mission and purpose in place, you will discover that the picture of what you are trying to accomplish becomes crystal clear and you eliminate all confusion.

you are so dedicated to goals over which you have control, so oblivious to anything over which you don't have control, and so free of neediness that expectations shouldn't even enter into the equation.

Your business is never apparent. It requires in-depth questioning that gives you a process that provides constant refocusing of what you

Discipline is difficult. But without discipline, you will never be a great negotiator.

When you begin any new negotiation or find yourself losing control of an ongoing negotiation, you return to—what? Your mission and purpose. And where is your mission and purpose set? In your adversary's world. And what is embedded deep within your adversary's world? Their pain. When in doubt, return to the pain. And always nurture, because without it, the pain may simply be too much.

He was able to hear the world say "no" to him in the form of failed experiments;

They know that what is really said and what we actually hear during a negotiation is far more important than what we allow ourselves to think while others talk. In order to blank slate effectively, the little voice in our own heads must be silent.