Having recently been involved in some quite difficult contract negotiations, it occurred to me how hard I have to work to overcome my natural desire to be nice, even when it is not expected of me and certainly not useful to me. Remembering that a programme called “tit for tat” won a competition to find the best strategy to win the prisoners dilemma some time ago, I decided to employ it as the basis of my negotiating strategy. Results (so far) are promising.
“Tit for tat is a game-theory strategy in which each participant mimics the action of their opponent after cooperating in the first round. “Tit for tat” can be used in games with repeated moves or in a series of similar games. “Tit for tat” emphasizes that cooperation between participants produces a more favourable outcome than a non-cooperative strategy.” More on “tit for tat” here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tit-for-tat.asp
Of course, not only has someone thought of it already but they have written the book. Here’s Adam Grant’s TED talk: https://youtu.be/YyXRYgjQXX0
More about Adam Grant here: https://www.adamgrant.net/ !