Openbox Podcast

RICK AND MORTY

Come and laugh at the complicated inner workings of a comedian's mind as she shares a very personal journey from childhood to never growing up. From her not-strictly-traditional upbringing by her mom and army dad to buying condoms for her older brother, being an awkward teenager to being an equally awkward adult, arranged marriages to society's expectations from her that she gleefully fails to meet. - it's all part and parcel of what makes Neeti "Almost Sankari". It's a show that raises some pertinent questions about accepted norms of society through hilarious observations and gentle leg-pulling. Her tongue-in-cheek-humour, keen observations and biting sarcasm cuts across all age groups and genders. It's a show you can watch with your parents, spouse, friends, neighbor, distant relatives or even your in-laws. Heads up: This show is for those who are a little bit nice. But also definitely a little bit naughty. Now you understand the "almost" in the title?

From financial consultant to negotiation guru
After being asked about his professional path, Simon Rycraft smiles. He confesses that his memory usually blocks the first 18 years of his life. That’s why normally, he starts his story right from becoming an adult. The Negotiation Hacks author has quite an experience working with big financial companies both in Europe and America. “I was actually working for financial client service in London for a quite big company in New York. So that took me across the pond to New York for a year. They spun off the wealth management arm to another investment banking group…in San Francisco. For eight years in San Francisco on and off consulting, and then moved into tech, ran the operations for a technology company.”

And when you talk to Mr Rycraft about his most outstanding achievements, he answers in the most British way one can imagine. “I’ve got a typical, less confident view of achievements, which apparently comes from a British background. You know, there’s been M&A activity. Growing up where I did, I’d never really thought that I’d be involved in large corporate deals for clients as well as companies I’ve worked for in the past. So those are achievements made, 100 million-plus deals.”

Besides that, our conversation unfolded that what Simon Rycraft cherishes the most is life-long learning, especially when it comes to the professional field. ‘I tended to focus on doing things that filled gaps in my strengths rather than gaps about the areas that I had weaknesses in; rather than just, you know, learning additional areas that I believe I already were really strong in.’

What about the book?
As we continued talking about personal achievements, it would be surprising not to mention the publication of Mr Rycraft’s book Negotiation Hacks. He himself admits that he is proud of turning his dream of several years into reality. ‘Everyone has a book idea in their head. You know, anyone has the opportunity to give over their thoughts. You have to take the time and put in the effort to get it written down, and the blood, sweat, and tears that come from producing something of good enough quality that you’re satisfied with.’ He laughs as he confesses that it is his biggest and the most recent success, but hopefully not the last one for sure.

The road to writing and publishing Negotiation Hacks was quite long and not always sunny. Our interviewee has always been interested in negotiation and practised it pretty much daily. But he admits that most works in this field are built on the psychology behind it mostly rather than simply revealing working tactics. But when it comes to literature about negotiation, Simon Rycraft breaks it into three categories:

– Academic

‘The professors that are teaching this on a daily basis to students. Most of their books talk through frameworks of preparing for negotiation and working with a team. A lot of the stories they provide are based on conversations they’ve had with students in the class, you know, of how a student negotiated well with their kids about what movie to watch on TV or how they negotiated a discount on a flight ticket or got a larger hotel room.’

– Law

‘The other group of authors in this area is law enforcement, ex FBI agents. I’ve never been in a situation, thankfully, involved in the negotiation for law enforcement. But will those stories work as they bring techniques and tactics that are of use in those environments?’

– Business

‘And then the third area is business books that are generally just somewhat like a dare. That one is very much someone’s independent view on what has worked well for them in their business career.’

Considering these 3 types of negotiation literature, Simon Rycraft decided to write something neutral, something that every person can use in everyday life despite their occupation. ‘I tried to produce a book that I would have benefited from 15 years ago. Which is, you know, a breakdown of the most critical tactics and techniques that you can use in a negotiation.’