What would help you move the dial forward in your own negotiation and leadership conversations based on your personal experiences, successes and failures? If you are happy with the results you are getting, there is probably little reason to change what you are doing - in terms of how you are using emotions in negotiation, in terms of your ability to build trust with others and rebuild it when it is lost, and in terms of how you demonstrate cultural competence. But most of us can get better at this. This course, therefore, aims to help you not only think about what you need to do differently when for example, strong emotions arise (single loop learning, Peppet and Moffitt 2006), but also explore what assumptions you might have to change (e.g., anger is good or bad thing in negotiation) (double loop learning, Peppet and Moffitt 2006). These assumptions may be driving your behavior (e.g., suppressing or venting anger) and producing certain, unproductive outcomes as a result.

Based on the topics of this course, think about what you want to learn over the next eight weeks and set some goals. Discuss in your post:

1. What is your current "espoused theory of action"* (Peppet and Moffitt 2006) about the role/importance of emotions or trust or culture in negotiation based on your life experience and what you have learned so far in the MLN program?
2. What is one piece of advice you would really like to get from this class about how to handle emotions in negotiation, or build and maintain trust, or to navigate cross-cultural differences? (This, for example, might be based on a difficult or painful conversation/negotiation you are having at home or at work, and you feel stuck or unsure how to proceed.)

* Remember, we all have "implicit theories-in-use" that may differ from our "espoused theories of action" (Peppet and Moffitt). It is our theories in use that we want to surface (i.e., bring to our awareness) and examine in this class because they ultimately shape the choices we make and the results we get