11 Keys to Winning an “Impossible” Negotiation from Deepak Malhotra
Leading a business in 2025 can feel like being stuck between a rock and a hard place … and inflation … and tariffs … and cash-strapped customers … and nervous employees …
In the face of all those changes, competing interests, and complexities, maintaining your business’ most important relationships might seem like an impossible task.
But at the 2025 CEO Coaching International Make BIG Happen Summit, author and Harvard professor Deepak Malhotra shared 11 powerful principles from his book Negotiating the Impossible that can help CEOs transform stalemates into mutually beneficial opportunities.
1. Leverage your ability to create value.
“Often your greatest source of leverage is your ability to create value for the other side,” Deepak Malhotra told our 450 summit attendees. Instead of just carving out your piece of the pie, explain how you can make the whole PIE bigger for everyone via strategic partnerships, resource sharing, broadening relationships, or core competencies that your counterpart lacks.
2. Control the frame.
Two parties rarely enter a negotiation with the same perspective. But eventually, one point of view or set of priorities will begin to dominate discussions. “Which frame takes hold early on has a big impact on the outcome of the negotiation,” Deepak Malhotra said. If you cede that advantage to the other side you might not be able to get it back. Establish both the agenda and the tone for the negotiation as soon as you all sit down so that both constructive dialogue and your specific objectives are always on the table.
3. Label your concessions.
Don’t let what you’re willing to give get lost in the give and take. Highlight what you’re conceding to generate goodwill and a spirit of compromise that, hopefully, your counterpart will reciprocate. Being mindful of your concessions will also provide guardrails to make sure that the negotiation doesn’t drift too far out of your favor.
4. Cultivate a learning mindset.
There’s a BIG difference between heading into a negotiation with strategies and objectives, and heading in with biases and preconceptions. Be curious about the other party’s interests, constraints, alternatives and perspectives. The more you’re willing to learn during your negotiation, the more paths towards a positive solution you’ll discover.
5. Strategize the process.
An effective negotiation builds trust, momentum, and collaboration. And none of those things happen by accident. Ahead of every meeting, talk to relevant c-suite players and your CEO coach about the mechanics of the conversation and the full range of victory scenarios for both sides. “Always know your best alternative to negotiated agreement (BATNA),” Deepak Malhotra advised. “But also know your opponent’s BATNA and make sure that you add value above it to them.”
6. Negotiate process before substance.
Timing, format, and individual roles and responsibilities will slow down the negotiation if you don’t iron them out first. Get clear on How immediately and you’ll minimize interruptions to What.
7. Make it safe for the other side to change course.
If the other party gets too dug in, any concession will feel like a defeat. Present alternative strategies and potential compromises that might provide some wiggle room. Embarrassment should never be an objective, nor part of the negotiated outcome.
8. Strategize the optics for both sides.
You should head into the negotiation with a draft of winning points you intend to communicate to your key stakeholders at the end of the process. Help your counterpart do the same so that even if they’re ultimately taking a loss, they can sell it as a win. “It is often possible to get someone to realize they were wrong or overreached or had unrealistic expectations,” Deepak Malhotra said, “but you have to make it possible for them to save face and say yes. One way to do that is to write their victory speech for them.”
9. Ignore or reframe ultimatums.
Ultimatums are rarely hard red lines, especially in the early stages of a negotiation. Treat your counterpart’s “nonnegotiables” as tactics. Counter when you can, or reframe sticking points to help the other side see a more beneficial path forward.
10. Flexibility on structure/process > costly concessions on substance.
Is it worth arguing about how you get from A to Z as long as you get to Z? Often, the answer is no. And if you’re willing to make concessions around the margins, your counterpart might be more willing to concede where it matters most to you.
11. Avoid divisive, one-issue negotiation.
What’s the BIG picture of this negotiation? The more variables, opportunities, and positive outcomes are on the table, the more chances there are for both parties to make trade-offs and improve the final package.
BIG is Always Possible
Just because business is challenging right now doesn’t mean BIG is impossible.
Jim Collins reminded Make BIG Happen Summit attendees that the CEO can always upgrade talent and accelerate the company’s most productive processes.
Strategic AI implementations can free your best people to do more of what they do best.
And Deepak Malhotra’s negotiation principles are an actionable framework CEOs can use to strengthen existing relationships, repair damage, or create advantageous new connections.
If you’re struggling to find the right mix of tools and tactics to keep your company growing, then it’s time to start working with a coach who can accelerate your leadership growth as well. Expand what you think you’re capable of as CEO and there will be no limits to how BIG your company can get.
If you don’t have a coach and want one to help you prepare your business during this quickly evolving landscape, fill out the form below to take us up on a complimentary 1:1 coaching call.
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About CEO Coaching International
CEO Coaching International works with CEOs and their leadership teams to achieve extraordinary results quarter after quarter, year after year. Known globally for its success in coaching growth-focused entrepreneurs to meaningful exits, the firm has coached more than 1,500+ CEOs and entrepreneurs across 100+ industries and 60 countries. Its coaches—former CEOs, presidents, and executives—have led businesses ranging from startups to over $10 billion, driving double-digit sales and profit growth, many culminating in eight, nine, or ten-figure exits.
Companies that have worked with CEO Coaching International for two years or more have achieved an average revenue CAGR of 25.9%, nearly 3X the U.S. average, and an average EBITDA CAGR of 39.2%, more than 4X the national benchmark.
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