The Art of Negotiation with David Johnson

On this week’s episode of Big Plan on Campus, Thomas is joined by David Johnson. Johnson is lecturer of law at Stanford University who specializes in the art of negotiation. In the episode, they discuss numerous topics, but the main discussions points are around what challenges are being faced by higher educational institutions and law schools today.

David shares his educational background and career path with listeners, discussing where he went to university and law school and why he changed his role from practicing corporate law to teaching students about the art and design of negotiation. After discussing his background, David shares about his experience working in in-house legal teams at varying companies in Silicon Valley. He talks about the strategies, culture and mind-sets he picked up on from working at start-ups and technology companies and how he applies these lessons and skills learned to his classroom today.

Thomas then transitions the conversation and asks David about the subject matter he teaches, negotiation. David shares some real-life examples of some of the methodologies he teaches his students and the importance of learning negotiation, giving and accepting effective feedback, and persuasion. Thomas and David then dive into the various challenges being faced by higher education institutions and law schools, what they believe to be the root causes and how these establishments can address the challenges. At the conclusion of the episode, Thomas gives an update on the current state of the market and what this past quarter’s numbers look like for reference.

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