Your Executive Profile
Your executive profile summarises the negotiation style that emerges from your five dimensions — Driving, Integrating, Trading, Deferring and Yielding.
The Value Integrator
Your negotiation style is led by Integrating and reinforced by Driving. You search for the value that positional bargainers miss — trades that cost one side little but mean a lot to the other — and you have the conviction to pursue your own interests once the value is clear. Deferring is your least-used style: you rarely let the counterpart set the agenda, which gives you control of the process but can make you appear inflexible where deference would earn trust.
Value-Creating Conviction
Your edge is value-creating conviction. Integrating gives you the search for joint gains; Driving gives you the momentum to close. Counterparts experience you as someone who expands the pie rather than slicing it — but who will still push firmly for a fair share.
Under-Using Deferring
Your signature is value-creating conviction. The watch-out is not overuse of a single style — it is under-use of Deferring. You rarely let the counterpart lead, which gives you process control but can make you appear inflexible and leave you without a tool to earn goodwill on low-stakes issues.
Practice Strategic Deference
Your agreements are durable because you integrate well and drive firmly. The missing tool is deference. In your next negotiation, identify one low-stakes issue where you can deliberately let the counterpart lead — not to concede your interests, but to earn goodwill and surface information. Strategic deference is a tool, not a weakness.
Your Negotiation Style Signature™
Your five negotiation styles, plotted together. The gold point marks your primary style; the dashed point marks the style you use least.
Integrating and Driving carry your negotiation style — you search for joint gains and pursue your interests with conviction. Trading is available when the structure suits it. Deferring and Yielding are your least-used styles, which gives you process control but limits your ability to build goodwill through concession.
What Your Profile Reveals
Three insights, your strengths, your watch-outs, and the relationship between the styles that define your profile.
Integrating Leads, Driving Reinforces
Your two strongest styles work as a pair: Integrating searches for joint gains, Driving gives the conviction to pursue your interests once the value is clear. Counterparts experience you as collaborative but not soft.
They didn't just push for their position — they understood what I needed and found a way to create value for both of us. But when it mattered, they were clear and direct about what they wanted.
A Deliberate, Not Flat, Profile
The 50-point spread between your strongest and weakest styles means you have a recognisable negotiation style. A flat profile usually signals lack of self-awareness about which approaches you actually reach for.
Integrating and Driving carry your negotiation style — you search for joint gains and pursue your interests with conviction. Trading is available when the structure suits it. Deferring and Yielding are your least-used styles, which gives you process control but limits your ability to build goodwill through concession.
Deferring Is Your Blind Spot
Deferring is your least-used style. You rarely let the counterpart set the agenda, which gives you process control but can leave you without a tool to earn goodwill or surface information on low-stakes issues.
Deferring is your least-used style. You rarely step back to let the counterpart lead, which can make you appear inflexible where strategic deference would earn goodwill or surface information. Practising deliberate deference on a low-stakes issue would add a tool to your repertoire without weakening your advocacy.
Integrating
You work to understand the counterpart's underlying interests and search for solutions that expand value for both sides. You ask questions, trade differences, and build toward joint gains.
Driving
You pursue your own outcomes with conviction. You enter negotiation with a clear position, advocate it directly, and work to move the counterpart toward your preferred result.
Your Overall Watch-Out
Your signature is value-creating conviction. The watch-out is not overuse of a single style — it is under-use of Deferring. You rarely let the counterpart lead, which gives you process control but can make you appear inflexible and leave you without a tool to earn goodwill on low-stakes issues.
Integrating and Driving work as a sequence. Integrating opens the space — you understand the counterpart's interests and search for joint gains. Driving closes it — once the value is clear, you pursue your share with conviction.
The risk is that the sequence favours advocacy over patience. When a negotiation is time-pressured or the counterpart is purely positional, you may push (Driving) before you have fully explored (Integrating), or continue exploring past the point where a Trading move would be more efficient.
Deferring is your least-used style. You rarely step back to let the counterpart lead, which can make you appear inflexible where strategic deference would earn goodwill or surface information. Practising deliberate deference on a low-stakes issue would add a tool to your repertoire without weakening your advocacy.
Your Development Roadmap
A practical roadmap built from your profile: what to keep doing, what to watch out for, and what to try in your next negotiation.
Practice Strategic Deference
Your agreements are durable because you integrate well and drive firmly. The missing tool is deference. In your next negotiation, identify one low-stakes issue where you can deliberately let the counterpart lead — not to concede your interests, but to earn goodwill and surface information. Strategic deference is a tool, not a weakness.
Keep Doing
Behaviours that already support your negotiation effectiveness.
Integrating
You work to understand the counterpart's underlying interests and search for solutions that expand value for both sides. You ask questions, trade differences, and build toward joint gains.
Driving
You pursue your own outcomes with conviction. You enter negotiation with a clear position, advocate it directly, and work to move the counterpart toward your preferred result.
Watch Out For
Situations where your existing tendencies may become limitations.
You continue exploring (Integrating) past the point where a simpler Trading move would close the deal efficiently.
You push your position (Driving) before you have fully understood the counterpart's interests, narrowing the space for joint gains.
You rarely let the counterpart lead, even on issues that matter more to them than to you, which can strain relationships that matter beyond this single deal.
You treat Deferring as weakness rather than a strategic tool, leaving yourself without a way to earn goodwill or surface information.
Try in Your Next Negotiation
Specific, observable actions you can apply immediately.
Practise Strategic Deference — In your next negotiation, identify one low-stakes issue where you can deliberately let the counterpart lead. Notice whether deference earns goodwill or surfaces information without costing you anything of substance.
Match the Style to the Situation — Before pushing (Driving), ask whether you have explored enough (Integrating). Before continuing to explore, ask whether a simple trade (Trading) would serve everyone better.
Read When to Stop Integrating — Watch for the moment you have enough information to close. Integrating past that point is exploration for its own sake — and it can signal that you will always concede to preserve harmony.