All Things Negotiation

Stan talks with Roger Carstens, former U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and ex–Army Ranger/Special Forces officer, about high-stakes hostage negotiations and the realities of persuading adversaries.
Carstens explains how the hostage office was created after U.S. failures in Syria, argues engagement is essential despite “we don’t negotiate” rhetoric, and reports his team helped bring home 65 Americans and over 250 non-Americans.
He details preparation methods, identifying true decision-makers, and the often tougher “interagency combat” inside Washington. Case discussions include Russia prisoner swaps involving Viktor Bout, expanding negotiations into a multi-country deal, efforts to include Alexei Navalny, and the importance of allies.
He describes President Biden’s deep involvement with Gaza hostage families, contrasts Iranian tactics with other states, and emphasizes trust, empathy, transparency, intuition, and creativity.

01:55 Military Roots of Negotiation
02:57 Special Forces Mindset
05:22 Hostage Envoy Office Origins
07:21 Why You Must Engage
09:38 Inside a Russia Swap Prep
10:50 Finding the Real Decision Makers
14:50 Interagency Friction and Resilience
17:00 Families as Creative Partners
19:53 What Makes a Fair Trade
24:05 Hardest Negotiation Is Internal
25:27 Victor Bout After Release
26:28 Enlarging the Swap With Allies
28:35 Navalny on the Table
33:18 Allies and Trust at the Top
34:10 Biden and Gaza Hostage Families
36:47 Tragedy on the Call
38:45 White House Takes Lead
40:26 Relationships First
41:42 Iranian Negotiation Games
44:02 Winning Over the Taliban
47:45 Maduro and Venezuela Lessons
53:07 Intuition and Judgment
58:28 China and Building Rapport
01:01:39 Surging Trust Fast
01:06:33 Lightning Round and 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.