• January 2025
• Case

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its credit, founder and CEO David Griswold was forced to consider selling his company. If Sustainable Harvest ran out of money and defaulted on its contracts, its suppliers — small coffee farmers in South and Central America — could lose millions. To avoid this outcome, Griswold began negotiations with two potential buyers, both much larger coffee importers that seemed to appreciate Sustainable Harvest’s business model. The (A) case (no. 925-010) describes how, under a tight deadline, Griswold weighed the merits of each potential buyer (and one buyer’s request for exclusive negotiations), considering whether he could trust each buyer to treat him, his employees, and the coffee farmers fairly and to carry on Sustainable Harvest’s legacy. The (B) case (no. 925-011) explains Griswold’s decision and explores the impacts of the sale, one year later.

• 2025
• Book

The world has changed dramatically in just the past few years—and so has the game of negotiation. COVID-19, Zoom, political polarization, the online economy, increasing economic globalization, and greater workplace diversity—all have transformed the who, what, where, and how of negotiation. Today, traditional negotiating tactics, while still effective, need to be tailored to vastly different situations and circumstances. In Negotiation: The Game Has Changed, legendary Harvard Business School professor Max Bazerman, a pioneer in the field of negotiation, shows you how to negotiate successfully today by adapting proven negotiation principles and strategies to the challenging new contexts you face—from negotiating across cultural and political differences to trying to reach an agreement over Zoom or during a supply chain crisis. Negotiation offers a groundbreaking new way of thinking about the importance of the unique context of any negotiation—and when and how it should influence how you negotiate. At the same time, the book provides a concise and expert overview of essential negotiating techniques for anyone new to the subject or who wants a refresher. The result is a must-read—a powerful toolkit for successfully negotiating in a world where the game of negotiation has changed.

• 2025
• Book

We all struggle with difficult conversations, but we're often not very good at easy ones either. Though we do it all the time, conversation is one of the most complex, demanding, and delicate of all human tasks, rife with possibilities for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. And yet, conversations can also be a source of great joy, each one offering an opportunity to express who we are and learn who others are—to feel connected, loved, and alive. In TALK, I show why conversing a little more effectively can make a big difference in the quality of our close personal relationships as well as our professional success. Drawing on the new science of conversation, I distill lessons that show how we can better understand, learn from, and delight each other. The key is the TALKmaxims: Topics Asking, Levity, and Kindness. Through experiments ranging across the conversational spectrum—from speed daters who ask too few questions (or too many), to future business leaders averse to topic forethought, to traffic stops that reveal the essence of kind language—this book takes readers inside the world of conversation, giving us the confidence and the advice to approach any interaction with more creativity and compassion. Addressing our face-to-face conversations as well as those we have by phone, email, text, and social media, TALK is a thoughtful guide for anyone seeking to better establish and sustain their relationships, and to work and lead effectively. From managing our emotions and sparking creativity to navigating conflict and being more inclusive, the right conversation skills are key to leading a more joyful and purposeful life.