LinkedIn Presents.

I'm Maura Aaron's Mealy, and this is the Anxious Achiever, the show that looks at the intersection of mental health and work and how we can all do both better.

I remember when I first started my business, going into negotiation conversations where I'd need to advocate for myself, right?

I'd need to ask a client for more money or sell

new business. And I felt like I wasn't coming from a position of power. For most people,

anxiety is a fear or concern about the future. You spiral overthinking the worst case scenario,

or you run through all the things that could go wrong. And having that anxiety going into any negotiation, feeling like it's going

to go wrong and I don't even deserve this, can really feel like a loss of power, like you're

helpless. Now, this might be because you suffer from social anxiety or don't

want to say the wrong thing, or you might be really worried about losing your job, or you may feel

like you just don't have the leverage to ask for anything until the economy feels stronger,

until your business has a bigger track record, until, until, until.

But the thing is, negotiation is always there. We do it every day. And for many people like me,

anxiety might also be a constant companion. We're joined today by someone who I feel is a kindred

spirit. He has great advice for handling

these kinds of situations. In fact, he teaches the next generation of business leaders how to

engage in effective negotiations, no matter what their strengths, weaknesses, hang-ups, or even

anxieties. Moshe Cohen is a senior lecturer at Boston University's Crestron School of Business,

and he wrote the book, Kaliwobbles, How to Negotiate When Negotiating Makes You Nervous.

Mosha talked to me about how to approach negotiating if you're prone to anxiety

and what to do when you recognize anxiety across the bargaining table

too.

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