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About UsWho We Are
In less than a decade,
Common Ground—a boutique provider of top-quality, highly customized
negotiation training—has become a global leader in our industry.
Each year we deliver hundreds of phenomenally successful negotiating
programs worldwide. And our flagship program, Negotiate to Win®, is one of the foremost negotiation
training programs in the world.
The Secret of Our SuccessWhy have Common Ground's
negotiating programs been so extraordinarily well received? In a nutshell, because they work. People
negotiate significantly better after attending. And isn't that what
good training is all about?
When you're good, the word gets around.
Why You Need Us
Negotiation Success Will Provide What You Need to Not Only Survive But Profit in Today's Economy
It's not just your imagination–things really are getting tougher. It's harder than ever to manage a business, make a profit, or run a government. And the tougher things get, the more important good negotiating becomes. Today, the average net after-tax profit margin of the S&P 500 companies is a razor-thin 4%! Margins of 10 to 20% and more used to be typical; only grocery chains and a few other high-volume businesses had 4% margins. Margins do constantly fluctuate with economic cycles. But on average, they've been steadily shrinking for the past half-century. The economic landscape has changed, probably forever. We share a future of constrained resources–0f 4% margins–in which ever smaller advantages will determine who succeeds and who doesn't; a future where better negotiating can make all the difference. The tougher things get, the more important good negotiation becomes.
Common Ground is a global leader in negotiation skills training. The wellsprings of Common Ground's success are:
Today's Negotiate to Win® Workshop traces its roots to a short briefing Jim Thomas delivered over thirty years ago. One of Jim's clients needed to drastically and quickly improve the negotiating skills of its personnel. The client's employees were sent to every negotiating seminar and given every negotiating book, to no avail. Nothing worked. The client, familiar with Jim's reputation as a talented negotiator, offered Jim a most unusual assignment. They asked him to "capture" whatever he did when he negotiated, and deliver the results to its employees in the form of a briefing. "How hard could that be?" the client asked. "Fifteen, twenty minutes ought to cover it." And then, in words which would become legendary in negotiating circles, the client added:
Jim's briefing went very well: the negotiating skills of the client's employees improved dramatically. The client was pleased. Word got around. And the rest, as they say, is history. In 1982, Jim expanded the original briefing material into a workshop, gave it the title of Negotiate to Win, and offered it for the first time to the general public. Since then, the Negotiate to Win family of seminars, workshops, retreats, and other products have become some of the leading negotiation training programs in the world. They are recipients of a number of awards for excellence.
The Principles That Guide UsPracticality and EffectivenessWhile Common Ground has come a long way from its early years, our original mandate: "Just tell me what really works." still guides us today. Every program, product and service that we offer must pass through the same, simple filter: "Does it work, consistently and reliably, under real-world conditions?" Unless the answer is an enthusiastic "YES", we won't sell it.
Win-Win—and Profitable—OutcomesWe strongly believe that everyone's best interest is served by win-win solutions that maximize the gain of all parties. Today's problems are too complex and interconnected to be settled on an adversarial basis. Neither the Earth, nor the nations, corporations, and interest groups that populate it, has the resources or recuperative power for the wasteful and prolonged conflicts of the past. Our original mandate, "Just tell me what really works" still guides us today.
Affordable PricesBecause our instructors have negotiating careers outside of Common Ground, we're able to keep our full-time staff to a minimum. We don't advertise. We don't have to. Referrals provide us an average 50% annual growth rate. This allows us to keep our prices low—far lower than our major competitors, and so low that our clients find it's not cost-effective to develop their own negotiation programs. Even for smaller companies, Common Ground offers very affordable programs that provide immediate results.
Guaranteed ResultsWe guarantee that you'll recover the cost of a Common Ground in-house session within two weeks of the training—through more effective negotiating—or we'll refund your money.
Jim ThomasJames C. Thomas, Jr.
From its first day in business, Common Ground has been privileged to be associated with Jim Thomas, America's negotiating coach. Jim is Director Emeritus of Common Ground, and has been our adviser, counselor, teacher, mentor and guide. While the intense demand for Jim's negotiating, lawyering, speaking and writing talents sometimes limits his availability, clients unanimously agree that a day with Jim Thomas is an unforgettable event. Jim is the top choice of U.S. presidents and their staffs for negotiating coaching and advice. When Fortune 100 companies demand that their people learn negotiation skills from only the best, they unhesitatingly pick Jim. His presentations on negotiating have been enthusiastically received by tens of thousands in the United States and abroad. Negotiating has been the focus of Jim's 30-year law practice. Before Jim started Common Ground Seminars, he also founded The Cooper Management Institute in 1983. Jim's experience includes mergers and acquisitions, domestic and international business transactions, arms control, the environment, trade and diplomacy, real estate, labor relations, and a host of other fields. His clients range from Fortune 500 companies and federal, state, and local government agencies to small and mid-sized businesses, non-profit groups, and professional and trade associations. Jim's current negotiating projects include some of today's most newsworthy domestic and international issues. He served the United States in the successful Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) negotiations with the former Soviet Union and the GATT (now WTO) trade negotiations. In 1977, Jim wrote and presented a pre-negotiation briefing for a client that dramatically improved attendees' negotiating skills. He expanded this material into a workshop and, in 1982, offered it to the general public. More than twenty-five years later, the descendants of Jim's original workwhop are among the leading negotiation programs in the world and the recipients of numerous awards for excellence. Jim's presentation style is frequently described as a combination of negotiator, lawyer, and standup comedian. "If I can make people laugh, I can make them learn," says Jim. "While negotiating is, more than ever, an essential skill for success, it's not easy. In fact, it's the only skill I know that can be technically and emotionally demanding at the same time. My job is to create such a spellbinding event that attendees can't help but pay attention, and make it so much fun that they can't help but learn." Jim's energy and confidence reaches even the most distant, resistant participant. He provides each attendee a strong, personal sense of calling, responsibility, and empowerment. His success can be seen in the towering marks his attendees give him. Jim is the author of Common Ground, Negotiate to Win, It's Negotiable, and scores of articles about negotiating. He is a frequent guest on television and radio, and a popular speaker and trainer for corporate, government, trade and professional groups. Jim is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles (magna cum laude) and The Georgetown University Law Center. For more information about Jim Thomas, please visit his personal website by clicking here .
Common Ground's experienced and internationally-renowned facilitators bring an abundance of practical and creative solutions to any situation.
Our Instructors
"Common Ground's faculty is without peer among negotiating training organizations."
If one principal defines Common Ground, it's our rule that programs must be taught by negotiators who happen to be trainers. Common Ground owes much of its success to our extraordinary international team of instructors. Each member of Common Ground's global network of program leaders is a distinguished negotiator with an active, full-time negotiating practice. Our internationally recognized experts are frequently seen on news programs and talk shows, and quoted in national news magazines, newspapers, and journals. They're presently working on a number of well-known domestic and international disputes. The breadth, depth, and quality of Common Ground's faculty is without peer among negotiating training organizations. Our network of instructors can conduct our workshops in most languages. Each instructor has personally conducted scores of major domestic and/or international negotiations. Most have broad experience in mediation, arbitration, and other forms of international dispute resolution. Some of our instructors have participated in GATT, WTO, INF, and MBFR negotiations. Others have represented or assisted the United States government in diplomatic, trade, and arms control negotiations. Still others are "area specialists" with particular expertise in specific countries or regions. All are exceptional teachers with considerable training experience and first-rate platform skills. Our instructors have heard
and tried it all, and they know what works. They have to—they
negotiate for a living. You'll get the answers you need
from the experts who deal with your issues every day. You'll
catch the special insights and tips that only real pros can provide—not consultants' pie-in-the-sky ideas or "touchy-feely" trainers'
jargon. You are encouraged to ask the toughest questions—and are assured of getting the practical answers you need from a
practicing expert.
Our ClientsMore than 1,000 of the best organizations in the world enjoy the tangible added value of Common Ground programs. Our list of client partners is a virtual "Who's Who" of business, industry, and government. Representative clients include:
*We've limited this list out of respect for our clients' wishes about the use of their names in marketing literature. However, if you'd like specific referrals to satisfied clients in virtually any business, professional, trade, or governmental area, please give us a call. The Common Ground team's track record of thousands of successful programs delivered to loyal business, industry, and government clients assures you of an outstanding event.
TestimonialsClick here to view a few testimonials from our clients.
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