Negotiating While Black: Be Who You Are To Get What You Want

Peterman is a lawyer, mediator, and negotiator with nearly 20 years of experience who specializes in alternative dispute resolutions. Despite her education, experience, and expertise, she has experienced implicit bias during negotiations in her personal and professional life due to her race and gender. She wrote this book to contrast other works by top professional negotiators that do not address the additional negotiation hurdles faced by nonwhite, nonmale people. The book defines negotiation, highlights how daily life includes negotiations, and provides concrete examples using storytelling to demonstrate how to use the tools she has developed. Peterman’s Negotiation IRL Tool Kit describes five foundational elements of negotiation: Know what you want; know what you need; know how to actively listen; know how to communicate; and know when to close. Peterman’s book aims to highlight how implicit bias negatively impacts people of color and how to employ her five foundational elements (and additional strategies, practices, exercises, and resources) to overcome its negative impacts.