The Venture Edge

As you may (or may not) know, I was a professional contract negotiator for a number of years before I became a full-time writer and book author. As such, I have always had a fascination with the process of negotiation. In fact, my first book -- Negotiating to Win -- was all about (surprise!) negotiation. I am therefore pleased to present a guest post titled 11 Ways to Get What You Want in 2011 by Jim Camp, president and CEO of Camp Negotiation Systems, a negotiation training and management firm. His bestselling business book, Start with No (Crown Business), has been translated into 12 languages. You can find out more at www.StartwithNo.com. Here are Jim's thoughts on how you can be successful in 2011.  

Today I ran across an article by Malcolm Gladwell in the January 18, 2010 New Yorker magazine. The title is "The Sure Thing: How Entrepreneurs Really Succeed." Whether or not you are a fan of Gladwell's work, he definitely has a way with words. He has a real knack for digging up interesting facts and weaving them into compelling stories. The main point of the article was that -- despite the popular myth -- successful entrepreneurs are NOT risk takers. Instead, they constantly strive to take the least risk possible.

I would like to claim ownership of the title of this blog, but if I did that I would be plagiarizing the very person who is known for the Character Counts program that educates more than six million kids about the importance of character and integrity, trustworthiness and good citizenship.  That person is Michael Josephson, the entertaining ethicist who is founder of the Michael Josephson Institute of Ethics in Los Angeles where he also hosts a national radio show focused on--what else?--ethics and character.