Ep.2 - How to Win a Negotiation in Science

EQ.IQ Podcast with Nick and Damien

It’s about allies, not adversaries.

Negotiation doesn’t have to be a competitive, zero-sum game with a winner and a loser. If you center the process around your passion for your scientific vision, negotiation can become a collaboration towards the shared goal of making that vision a reality.

00:34 Introduction

At Experimental Designs Consulting we get a lot of questions from clients who need to negotiate new faculty positions, term sheets, or other contracts. In this episode—the first of a planned series on budget negotiation—your hosts Damien and Nick talk about how approaching this process with a collaborative mindset can set you up for long-term success.

EDC website

02:17 Help them help you

Remember that whether you’re negotiating with an academic institution or potential investors in your new company, your scientific vision has value to the other party. What’s more, they already understand that they’ll need to support and invest in you to help you succeed.

It can be intimidating to put yourself out there and have someone else put a dollar value on your ideas. That’s why it’s important to start by sharing your passion for your science. You’re the expert in your own research, and your contagious enthusiasm for your ideas will help to bring the other parties into alignment.

10:08 It’s about the journey

Once you and your negotiation partners have agreed on the destination, the details of how you’ll get there together will start to naturally fall into place. In this segment, Damien and Nick explain how to start figuring out what tangible resources you’ll need to create your scientific vision; the numbers will follow.

Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!