Knowledge Is Power—And Why You Should Share It

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• The negotiations concept BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) offers some valuable insights into how negotiating parties typically try to avoid sharing knowledge.

• Sharing your BATNA lays a crucial foundation of trust and transparency in the negotiating process. When both parties share this information, it fosters greater creativity and collaboration in structuring a deal that will benefit everyone in the long-term.

• Negative bargaining zones can be overcome if negotiating parties are willing to learn about one another’s desires and needs.

• We’ve all heard that “knowledge is power,” often to the point where it seems like a cliche. While this phrase is originally attributed to the philosopher Francis Bacon, it has been repeated by many throughout history.

• Because knowledge can be a competitive advantage, many are reluctant to share their knowledge with others.

• In reality, however, sharing knowledge can create a powerful dynamic that completely alters a business relationship for the better.

• Research from McKinsey & Company found that “intensive” users of analytics and data programs were 23 times as likely to gain more customers, 19 times more likely to achieve “above-average profitability” and 6.5 times as likely to retain customers.

• The BATNA serves as a guardrail — or an indicator of when you wouldn’t do business with a potential partner and you would walk away.

• In today’s business environment, trust and transparency are crucial for lasting relationships — and sharing knowledge is how that is accomplished.

• haring knowledge creates trust and can help foster more creative solutions that adversarial negotiating tactics might make impossible.

• While classic negotiating theory focuses on merely identifying guardrails that could affect a business relationship, there is much greater advantage in sharing the BATNA with the other party upfront.

• Win-win relationships don’t happen by accident — especially when the parties involved are actively trying to conceal their knowledge from each other.

• The argument is that revealing the BATNA gives the other party an advantage, and that you will essentially leave money on the table. However, this mindset is focused on a negotiating process that is adversarial, not collaborative.

• L'idée que « savoir, c'est pouvoir » est souvent utilisée dans le monde des affaires, en particulier dans les négociations, mais pas toujours pour le mieux. Parce que la connaissance peut être un avantage concurrentiel, beaucoup sont réticents à partager leurs connaissances avec les autres." est souvent utilisé dans le monde des affaires, en particulier dans les négociations - mais pas toujours pour le mieux.