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Wharton Executive Educaton: Leadership 

Some assumptions make sense. You see clouds rolling in, assume a storm is coming, and bring your boat in off the water. You read a gloomy earnings report, assume a stock will lose value, and sell. Assumptions like these provide useful information, and lead to sound decisions.

But other assumptions have negative consequences, especially those that presume another person's motivation, approach, or even emotions. Wharton Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics and Management Richard Shell calls these assumptions Blind Spots, because they can prevent executives from developing a clear and accurate picture of a situation and lead to stalled negotiations, conflict with coworkers, and worse.

"For many people," says Shell, "assumptions are about expecting the worst. You enter a negotiation, and see the other party as a threat. In essence, you escalate the negotiation before it starts. Or you assume that the balance of power lies in favor of the other party, and you weaken your position. These blind spots can have powerful consequences, but they're not difficult to remedy once you identify them."

Put the Weapon Down

Assuming a level of conflict before you enter a meeting or negotiations is dangerous, notes Shell. "It's a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. You behave in a way that causes the other party to worry about you, mistrust you, and get defensive. Your blind spot not only prevents you from seeing the interests you may have in common - ones that might help you help each other and enlarge the pie - but it can create a conflict where one did not exist, simply because you behave as if you expect it.

"The best negotiators are able to overcome the assumption of conflict rather than cooperation. They look for areas of cooperation before they go into negotiations. It doesn't mean that conflict isn't there, it just means that it may not be as big as it appears at first glance."

The academic director of Executive Negotiation Workshop continues, "If the assumption of conflict is a roadblock in your negotiating style, you can not only lose business, but you'll create a lack of trust that will damage your ability to reach agreements over time." To help executives rid themselves of this blind spot, Shell uses role-playing in the program. "To become more effective, you first need to identify exactly what you need to work on. Understand just how blind you are about conflict, about what you are not seeing, then practice looking for the roadblock and restraining yourself from getting too assertive too soon. Making this kind of change can have an effect on your job performance immediately."

A Thief Thinks Everybody Steals

"Many people assume that other people are just like them," says Shell. "As Mario Moussa and I say in our book The Art of Woo, 'a thief thinks everybody steals.' If you are competitive, you believe everyone is competitive. That assumption will cause you to act in a way that elicits competitive behavior from them. They may not actually be all that competitive, but your expectation can trigger the behavior. Thinking that others are like you, that they have your personality, your emotions, and your goals can be a serious blind spot. In Executive Negotiation Workshop, we examine ways to see other people clearly and not as extensions of ourselves.

"For example, it helps to consult with others about the behavior you are receiving so you get more than one perspective. A manager who is very punctual may be offended by a team member who shows up late for meetings. He might take it personally. But through discussions with coworkers, he can discover that the team member is habitually late. It is not a tactic, a signal, or a referendum on the importance of his meetings. Simply being guided by an assumption that if he was late for a meeting, it would be to send a signal doesn't provide accurate information.

"I've worked with many executives who are more disinclined to ask for information than they should be. They operate on automatic pilot, interpreting everyone's behavior in light of what their own behavior means, when they should be asking more questions. Other people can be a great resource for getting a broader picture of what is really going on. That kind of information can help you stop making assumptions, and lose a significant blind spot.

Claim Your Power

The third blind spot identified by Shell is a belief that others have more leverage and power than they actually do. "We all tend to undersell our own position and overstate the power that the other person has because we are risk averse. Worrying about our own downside, we minimize (in our minds) the things that give us leverage and maximize the things that give other people leverage."

The truth, says Shell, is that we are often much more powerful than we realize. "There is a tendency to assume the other guy has an advantage when in fact the situation is more equal. Many of the salespeople I work with never consider that their buyers may actually need what they're selling. They believe they have no leverage, and must lower their prices to get the business. That belief, depending on the sale, can cost them thousands, or even millions of dollars. The truth is that quite often the seller's product or service is more convenient or solves a problem for the buyer. Also, the seller often doesn't realize how time-consuming or costly it would be for the buyer to switch to another vendor. So there are many reasons why the buyer won't walk away.

"To overcome this skewed balance of power assumption, you need to get a better perspective. In Executive Negotiation Workshop, we ask participants to sit in the other person's chair and ask 'What would I lose if this deal fell through?' You realize there many things they could lose, and that knowledge gives you more of an advantage. When you stop assuming, you can see the situation - the balance of power - realistically."