Indivisuals

Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Services for Individuals

We advise individuals on uniquely challenging negotiations, conflicts and decisions. Our services often involve sensitive professional or private matters and range from personal coaching, mediation, and negotiation advice to tailored one-on-one negotiation courses for those wanting to build their influence skills or achieve conflict resolution with another party.

Our individual negotiation clients include professional athletes, well-known artists, corporate executives, celebrity families, and spouses concerned they might be at a disadvantage in separation or divorce proceedings. We consistently achieve outstanding results for these clients, frequently helping to salvage or dramatically improve relationships once thought to not be worth trying to fix.

The Managing Director of Negotiation Advice International (NAI), Peter D. Johnston, spearheads all of our client engagements. He is an internationally recognized negotiation expert, sought-after negotiation consultant, speaker, mediator, and bestselling author. His award-winning book, Negotiating with Giants, relays lessons from our firm’s advisory work and some of history’s most difficult negotiations. Peter’s negotiation results have been formally recognized by the United States Government for their positive economic and social impact, both domestically and abroad.

At NAI, we are committed to helping you as an individual with your toughest negotiations and conflict resolution challenges. In addition to individuals, our team has advised client organizations ranging from the United Nations, World Bank, and Heads of State, to corporations such as HSBC, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft, as well as high-profile unions.

Below are several brief examples of engagements executed by our principals with individuals, followed by detailed case examples.

As negotiation experts trusted by so many in such important roles, our reputation for discretion and confidentiality is critical to our success. Given the sensitive nature of our work, most of our clients’ names can never be made public. However, we do identify some clients when and as appropriate, only connecting them to detailed project descriptions on an exceptional basis.

“I first called NAI when I had a significant negotiation at my company over role definition and compensation for that role. NAI helped me prioritize my interests, reality-tested my expectations, and provided the latest standards on senior executive packages in my industry. Their advice made a very positive difference in me getting to an employment agreement that met my interests and those of my company.”
—George McTaggart
Technology Executive
“Dear Peter, Because of you and all your support, guidance, wisdom, equilibrium, patience, and care, this year, I am able to re-bloom. Thank you with all my heart. Forever in your debt, forever your fan. I will never forget the honor of working with you and how much you gave and so brilliantly.”
—Heidi Feinstein
Entrepreneur
“Just wanted to say THANK YOU after last week. I saw my performance improve 100 percent.”
—A Venture Capitalist After Coaching for a TV Investment Show

Advising on the Negotiation of Sports Deals, Venture Capital Funding, and Conflict Resolution: Individual Negotiation Examples

Professional Sports

We have advised a number of athletes, coaches, and team general managers over the years regarding contracts, endorsement deals, and partnerships, as well as their broader business dealings in parallel to their sporting careers or after retirement.

A Television Personality

Behind the scenes, we quietly advised a high-profile panel member on one of North America’s most successful network shows focused on funding entrepreneurs and their ideas. This investor wanted help on his approach to systematically vetting and funding businesses on television while sitting beside competing venture capitalists, a very different context to negotiating quietly in his plush offices. Our involvement included a one-on-one tailored negotiation course specific to the show’s unique format.

 

A Fired Senior Executive

We pursued severance for a fired media executive through a suit launched against his employer — an engagement that involved hiring and guiding a strong legal team. The result: a robust exit package that allowed the executive, diagnosed with a mental illness, to take time off, improve his mental health, and transition to a new industry where he is now thriving.

 

Interpersonal Negotiations
Negotiation Keynote Speaker

From Negotiating Family Business Disputes and Resolving a Divorce Amicably to Negotiating with Doctors: Individual Case Examples

Negotiation Keynote Speaker
Case #1: A Celebrity Family Negotiating Business Arrangements

A well-known family came to us to help resolve differences over a critical business decision that was being undermined by old disputes, personality differences, and familial dysfunction dating back decades. We started with basic guidelines for how we would all interact with one another for conflict resolution, including a confidentiality agreement. Following one-on-one talks with each family member on the phone, we moved to a series of in-person meetings, listening to everyone’s perspectives, and analyzing and discussing how different Myers-Briggs personality types may have contributed to family dynamics. After working through the details of this family’s history and enabling a difficult but meaningful dialogue about the past and present, we turned towards the future to resolve the business decision in a manner acceptable to all. Over time, NAI has continued to act as a sounding board for this family when any new relational or business issues surface.

Case #2: A Company Owner Negotiating a Divorce

We started by delivering a highly informal one-on-one negotiation course to this successful female executive and owner of a high-profile niche brand of alcohol. Our goal was to enable her to negotiate directly with her husband, a lawyer himself, rather than involving third-party representatives on each side. Why? Because if younger children are involved, as in this case, we believe it’s best to have the two partners to marriage directly resolve conflicts and negotiate the basic terms of their separation or divorce agreement whenever possible to build their mutual ability to deal with one another over time. The result, we are told, was an outcome and ongoing relationship that far surpassed all expectations when we were first approached to help.

Case #3: Patients and Medical Professionals Negotiating Healthcare

We have advised dozens of individuals in their negotiations with medical systems across North America, including doctors in their negotiations with patients, doctors negotiating their fees, and patients who feel they aren’t being heard. We were part of crafting a negotiation course for doctors in the US and delivered keynote speeches to healthcare providers about how to best influence outcomes with patients and insurers. We have also advised governments and insurers on their approaches to patients and alternatives to traditional care, including remote healthcare. In short, we are passionate about healthcare and improved health outcomes based on global best practices.

Case #4: An Owner Negotiating the Sale of a Valuable Internet Domain

The owner of a category-killer domain name, along with two of his colleagues, came to us after years of unsuccessfully trying to sell a domain. NAI initiated and ran a uniquely structured global auction out of the Netherlands and heavily promoted this auction in conjunction with Escrow.com, our partner on the project, through a new website for which we hired a leading-edge design firm. Potential buyers were vetted and dozens registered. We negotiated the final terms with the winner of the auction, overseeing the documentation process, the hiring of the legal team that supported our efforts, and the distribution of payments. While the price paid for the domain and the name of the buyer remain confidential, the result was deemed to be a historic success for both the sellers and the buyer of this domain.

Case #5: The Founder of a High-Profile Luxury Clothing Group

We advised this clothing designer and corporate chairman on how to best negotiate the sale of the company he founded while maintaining an active role at the company following the sale. This included negotiating the terms and conditions of his employment contract with the new buyer — salary, bonuses, equity, options, appearances, and licensing fees. We quietly continued to act as this designer’s agent with third parties to maximize the value of each of his deals — and his brand — until his retirement.

Contact us confidentially to learn more or to confirm our availability.

Cambridge, USA — Vancouver, Canada