Thoughts and Insights by Michael Gregory

When should you not be transparent when developing trust?

Trust is critical in a negotiation, mediation or collaboration. Trust can be defined as being straightforward, open, accepting and responsible, but when are times when you should not be open? That is the focus of this commentary.

This is how to make your life amazing

From the bestselling author, Eric Barker, Barking up the Wrong Tree, I wanted to share with you his blog on This is how to make your life amazing: In short he offers these five points for your consideration: “"Career Wellbeing": Be engaged. Use your strengths. Hide from your boss. "Social Wellbeing": Spend time with the good people, not with the bad people. "Financial Wellbeing": Usually it's not about how much you have, it's about how you feel about what you have. Increasing the prior two factors prevents you from negatively comparing yourself to others. "Physical Wellbeing": Exercise, eat right and get your sleep, obviously. As we all know in our heart of hearts, feeling sexy is important. Restaurant choices can matter more than food choices. "Community Wellbeing": Helping others helps you. Therefore, helping me helps you. Why don't you call more often?

Does Caffeine Make Us Smarter?

I happened upon an article about coffee that is available at the end of this blog.  That got me to thinking, does caffeine make us smarter?  That depends on a number of things including how we define smarter and some analysis of what caffeine does to our brains.  Having researched this a little further I wanted to share this with you.  

Here are three great ideas to help you in a negotiation

You have read about negotiation. You have practiced techniques. You are prepared. You have researched the other party on social media. You are ready to work on developing a great relationship. You believe you are ready to actively listen before beginning to educate the other party. You are looking for a win-win negotiation so that you can create value. Here are three other items to allow you to step up your game.

This is how to close the deal in a negotiation

In some negotiations it seems like the deal will never close. This can be a technique used by one side to wear down the participants of the other side, it could be the result of factors beyond the control of participants or something else that you may never know. This commentary addresses such a situation, when you need or want to close the deal and the other side does not. What should you do? This article addresses this question.

This is how to be happy at work and life

hen we are happier at work, we are more engaged, more productive and we have a sense of purpose. In short there is no one right answer, because we all define happiness a little differently, but with a shift in our thinking we can have a sense of purpose, be engaged, have greater resilience, and be kinder to others.

This is one way to manage conflict at work

Often when two parties are in a conflict with one another, one party feels more aggrieved than another. At other times the conflict is symmetric and both parties feel equal coming into a negotiation. This commentary addresses how to evaluate the situation when the situation is asymmetric and what can be done when one party feels very aggrieved and the other does not share in this perception.

This is how you build trust at the bargaining table in business

Here are some very specific ideas to help you in any negotiation. You begin your investigation into the parties and process as a first step. Your goal is to build a good and as solid a relationship as possible. 

This is how to listen better with difficult people

You know how it is. You have been to training and you know that you are supposed to do. You are supposed to listen. You are supposed to be empathetic and develop a relationship. That is great in theory, but what about with a difficult person.