Misha Glouberman

Negotiation is all about reaching decisions with people who want something different than you, which is to say: pretty much everyone. It’s more than a skill, negotiation is about developing a new perspective on relationships with other people. We can all learn how to become better at forging agreements, creating mutual gain, and resolving conflicts, in all areas of our lives. But how?

Misha Glouberman will help you transform the way you view negotiation, and the reasons people disagree in the first place. His talk will help you get past the roadblocks that prevent agreement, and recognize the traps and misunderstandings that people fall into, especially when emotions run high. By understanding someone else’s perspective, yours will grow. Glouberman draws on research from many sources, including Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, and uses storytelling and humour to illustrate how to talk to people when it seems like you are speaking in two different languages. These are life-changing skills that can transform how you see the world and the people around you.

A lot of energy, effort, and expense goes into planning and attending a conference. Conferences can be a great opportunity to learn, to meet new people, to have interesting and valuable conversations. Yet, they seldom live up to this promise. In this participatory event, Misha Glouberman sets about to change this. Because people come to events knowing very few people, or knowing only the people in their small world or silo, Glouberman initiates a series of conversations where every participant meets a dozen new people. These groups then talk in ways that are genuine and human in a non-intimidating context. (Shy attendees, especially, love this exercise!) People get to share ideas about the event, its themes, and what they are hoping to get out of it.  By the end, literally thousands of new connections can be formed within a group, dramatically changing the social dynamic and network map of the event. Conference goers leave Glouberman’s unique session feeling energized, connected, and focused.

Misha Glouberman looks at multiple issues about living in cities: etiquette on public transit, dealing with noisy neighbors, bikes and cars, gentrification, and many other topics. With candor, counterintuitive provocations, and a lucid reasonableness, Glouberman challenges many of the clichés about living in cities, while explaining that the most important way to understand a city is as a place full of people who coexist, while wanting different things from each other.