Acouple of years ago I read an article about the paygap. When analyzing the gap between salaries of men and women, one third was attributed to the fact that women negotiate differerently. Okay, differently sounds too optimistic, the article actually said we are bad negotiators.
There would be little I could do about the other two thirds that were defined as discriminatory and the other one due to several circumstances, but having read this I felt it’s time to take action and self-responsibility.
I visited a workshop and looked at various books that were interesting, but the most eye opening and motivating book was Babcock and Laschever’s “Why women don’t ask. The high cost of avoiding negotiation – and positive strategies for change.”
This book changed my life. And my wallet. Literally! Within the first 4 months after having read it, I saved around 23’000.- CHF! Most of it, I admit, was at work, but my “negotiation muscle” did a major workout! The best part of it is that I use the strategies until today and have meanwhile held workshops myself on the topic.
One of the strategies purely consists of asking at all! This may sound mundane but honestly, for me this was a first step out of my comfort zone! And the key point of actually trying – and knowing that there’s nothing to loose (worst case you pay the full price) but rather a lot to win is pretty encouraging!
You can find the book in most libraries or on amazon.
In my local library they had to first order it – but I told them they absolutely SHOULD have one copy on their self! ?
The same authors have published a second book, to follow-up. I am currently reading it and promise to tell you more about it once I finished reading. ?
I’m a big fan of these authors so let me advertise* them here.
Do you have an important negotiation upcoming and would like to have a sparring partner to prepare for it? Let’s talk!
