The 9 Levers / Move
8 Keep Your Options
Leverage = not needing one deal or one person.
Whoever needs the deal more has less power. A second offer, a backup plan, a life outside one relationship — these let you say no, and that makes your yes worth more.
Built from: The 48 Laws of Power; The 33 Strategies of War; The Laws of Human Nature; The Charisma Myth; The Art of Seduction; You Can Negotiate Anything.
Train this lever
- Best Negotiation Books: Which to Read First, and WhyThe negotiation books worth your time: Getting to Yes, Never Split the Difference and You Can Negotiate Anything. Who each is for and what to skip.
- Dating Power Dynamics: How to Read Who Holds the PowerEvery early relationship has a power balance. Learn to read it, stay warm and strong, spot control early, and leave when it is unequal.
- Getting to Yes Review: The Harvard Method, Tested HonestlyAn honest review of Getting to Yes by Fisher, Ury and Patton: four rules, the BATNA idea, where it breaks, and how it compares with Chris Voss.
- How to Ask for a Raise (and Get a Real Answer)A step-by-step plan to ask for a raise: know your number, build options, make the ask, handle no, and keep the relationship strong.
- How to Get Promoted: Skill, Sponsors and the AskHow promotions really happen: build rare skill, make it seen, find a sponsor, ask clearly, and know when to move. Clean moves only.
- Negotiation Guide: How to Get a Better Deal Without Burning AnyoneA practical negotiation guide for salary, deals and everyday asks: know your walk-away, build options, read the feeling, and keep the relationship.
- No More Mr. Nice Guy Review: Good Advice, Thin ProofOur review of Robert Glover's No More Mr. Nice Guy: why giving with strings backfires, which exercises hold up, and where the evidence stops.
- The Invisible High Performer: Why Great Work Gets OverlookedA composite story of a skilled analyst passed over for promotion, and the three changes that made her work seen, trusted and wanted.
- You Can Negotiate Anything Review: Cohen's Tactics, TestedAn honest review of You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen: power, time and information, what still works, where the stories fail, and what to use.