The key to success in career, business and life

In February 2006, something significant happened in my life - I immigrated to the US.

Since then, I have been trying to learn about the culture and the key to success here.

On the surface, it seems to be about working hard.

But it appears to be not enough to work hard to grow as a leader.

You need to evolve your Emotional Intelligence, improve skills to build rapport and be able to influence without authority.

And life here in the US gave me a lot of opportunities, but not all of them I could take.

Till I discovered a secret.

In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard and we all got locked out, our lives suddenly changed.

People felt isolated and disconnected from society.

At that time, I started the most impactful endeavor that transformed my understanding of communication.

I started the Negotiation Practice Community.

It started as a practice of the FBI hostage negotiation tools, described in the book Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss.

Then, it grew into 10 practices a week with multiple hosts and exploring many approaches to negotiation and influence.

The Community grew up to almost 500 people excited about honing these powerful conversational tools.

And we got awarded by Chris Voss personally with this crystal black swan symbolizing the Black Swan Group.

But there was something else beneficial in the Community.

I discovered that because our approach and practices are based on ethical influence and empathy, we started to grow connections and rapport with each other.

The practices were fun and engaging.

We became like a family.

And often, practices are eye-opening and lead to “a-ha” moments.

But most importantly, regular practice allows you to make necessary repetitions in effective conversational patterns.

There’s nothing more effective than regular practice.

Because communication is an active skill.

Like kung fu, you’ll never become a kung-fu master by watching kung-fu movies. You gotta practice it.

Same with negotiation and influence.

Today, we have 7-8 practices a week, depending on the week.

We practice:

- “Start with NO” Tools by Jim Camp

- “Never Split the Difference” hostage negotiation tools by Chris Voss

- “Crucial Conversations” conflict resolution tools by Joseph Grenny

- Reflective listening skills used by Hotline counselors

- De-escalation techniques for building effective dialogs

- Controlling your emotions and the emotions of other people

- Training the tonality of your voice and your emotional message

- And also how to protect yourself and others from bullying

There are more ideas to practice other techniques and tools that could be implemented with the necessary resources.

What does a practice session look like?

It’s an online call (we use Zoom now) where you get together with other members to discuss a scenario and tools to practice.

Then, you pair up and go to a breakout room for practice.

But the most important part happens when everybody comes back.

You provide each other feedback.

This is the most important part because, without feedback, you don’t know how this stuff works for you.

You don’t know how it’s received on the other side.

But with feedback, you have positive reinforcement and can quickly improve your skills.

We could also have a demo, and the new members can observe how experienced members talk and learn from them.

What are the results?

The results are unbelievable.

People get better deals, negotiate options, opportunities, promotions, and senior positions, establish new relationships at work, fix relationships at home, and resolve the toughest conflicts and confrontations.

But most importantly, the members of the Community get the confidence to ask about what they want.

They are gaining confidence and skills in holding challenging conversations that are ultimately the most rewarding.

So, maybe you are also growing as a leader?

Maybe you also immigrated 10-15 years ago and wanted to prove to the world that you’re a leader who can succeed here?

Whether you’re a manager, a corporate professional, a solopreneur, or a small business owner.

If you believe in communication skills and in the ability to influence without authority,

And maybe you’re not seeing the results you want and feel like you’ve hit a brick wall of misunderstanding?

Maybe you’re feeling frustrated and angry and looking for a new approach?

Come to the Negotiation Practice Community.

Here, we have people grow in their roles and improve their relationships.

Our mission is to help you, a professional and hard worker, get the power of ethical influence to grow as a leader.

We believe in a different approach to building rapport and relationships with colleagues, teammates, children, family members, and friends.

We believe in empathy, respect, and the right to choose.

We believe in becoming smarter every day and making the right decisions about what we say and what we do.

Send me a message with the word “community” if you’re interested to check it out.

Here's my email: vb@bushinconsulting.com

You can try it out for free, and I’ll be happy to help you join.

Cheers!