In This Issue:

• Schmooze or Lose: How Email Negotiations Can Make or Break Deals

• Why Focus and Follow-Up Win in Startups

• Time Management in the Age of AI – corporate workshop

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Schmooze or Lose: How Email Negotiations Can Make or Break Deals

According to a recent study from Stanford Graduate School of Business, negotiation isn’t just about the offer — it’s about the relationship. The research explored how negotiating via email differs from face-to-face conversations and what leaders can do to improve outcomes.

Key Insights:

• Emails allow complex offers: Negotiators exchanged more detailed, multi-issue proposals via email than in person.

• Relationships need explicit attention: Without face-to-face cues, small rapport-building moments can be lost. Negotiators who explicitly included relational cues in their emails had smoother exchanges.

• Clarify context to avoid misunderstandings: Emails can easily lead to misinterpretation. Being clear about background, intentions, and non-negotiables helps prevent friction.

Practical Takeaways for Professionals:

1. Lead with context: A quick acknowledgment or reference to prior conversations helps preserve relationships.

2. Structure complex issues clearly: Use bullet points or numbered lists when presenting multiple items.

3. Be explicit about expectations: Clearly outline key points, priorities, and deal boundaries to reduce confusion.

Bottom Line:
Email negotiations aren’t weaker than face-to-face — they’re just different. Leaders who communicate clearly and deliberately build stronger connections, avoid misunderstandings, and close deals more efficiently. Small adjustments in how you write emails can have a big impact on relationships and outcomes.

Read the full study here: Stanford GSB – Schmooze or Lose

Leadership Win Why Focus and Follow-Up Win in Startups

A new Pittsburgh Tech Council podcast episode highlights two lessons that every tech founder should hear.

The first lesson is simple: follow-up matters. Many entrepreneurs stop after the first outreach, but real momentum is built by staying consistent without being pushy. Follow-up is where opportunities actually turn into outcomes.

The second lesson is about focus. The episode explains why startups often fail by trying to do too much too soon. The most successful teams win by solving one real problem well, not by building the most features. 

This episode is a quick reminder that startups grow through discipline, not hype.

Listen to the episode.

Time Management in the Age of A.I.

A workshop program for teams that helps them create their own customized methods of optimizing their time by combining the proven popular frameworks with customizations and new techniques like AI to get fabulous gains in their success.

Learn how you can have David conduct it at your organization

This workshop grew out of a successful program first conducted for Executive MBAs at a prestigious university. It’s interactive – and from the comments we get from participants, it’s both fun and impactful:

• "Such a great session! Very interesting on all the different styles of time management. I can't wait to start.”

• "Amazing session. Totally loved it.”

• "This session is essential in life.”

• “You hit the nail on the head”

• “The time flew by — so much info. When I noticed the time, the session was almost over”

The last word

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David