Everything Is a Negotiation
At first glance, psychology and finance may seem like an unlikely combination. But for instructor Ricky Koo, the two disciplines have shaped every stage of his career.
After earning a psychology degree from UCLA and becoming a licensed CPA, Ricky built a career in public accounting, corporate finance and executive leadership at Fortune 500 companies. Along the way, he discovered that while technical expertise can open doors, understanding how people think, communicate and make decisions is what drives lasting success in leadership and management. This realization eventually led him to launch his own leadership and communication coaching practice.
Today, Ricky brings that blend of behavioral insight and business experience to our Negotiation Unlocked: Strategy, Tactics & Conflict Resolution course, helping students build trust, navigate conflict and communicate with greater confidence.
What draws you to teaching for us?
What I love about teaching at Extension is the diversity of students: background, industries, range of skills and various perspectives of thought. They are engaged. Most are full-time working professionals who are also juggling many personal responsibilities. But every single time we have class, I am in awe at how passionate and engaged they are in our class discussions and role-playing activities.
Tell me about the topics you discuss in the negotiation course.
We cover the concepts and overview of what makes up a negotiation, steps to lead a successful negotiation and how to communicate effectively to drive the outcomes that you want.
At the same time, I bring a lot of my professional experience because my main intention is to not only teach the concepts, but to ensure that my students know how to apply it into their own work and lives. That is why each of my classes has a blend of lecture, reflections/discussions and role playing to practice the techniques and strategies.
The entire course is structured under a negotiation framework that I developed, so we go at a natural flow while being intentional about coming up with a strategy and executing it for any negotiation.
I use my psychology background to highlight how our perceptions can influence how other people think, feel and behave. We go deeper into the psychology of negotiations and those “invisible” pressures such as cultural differences, conflict management, biases, hierarchy and power dynamics.
The entire course is structured under a negotiation framework that I developed, so we go at a natural flow while being intentional about coming up with a strategy and executing it for any negotiation.
If a prospective student is unsure whether they “need” negotiation skills, what would you tell them?
I would ask if they’ve ever found themselves replaying an interaction in their mind and trying to figure out what they should have or could have said instead. Usually, that interaction was a negotiation.
A negotiation isn’t just what people do in a conference room or a board room. Negotiations are simply a type of communication between two or more parties, where they are trying to reach a certain outcome. So when someone questions whether they “need” negotiation skills, I’d ask them to reflect on whether or not they feel as though they’d like to improve on their communication skills. If the answer is leaning toward yes, then I’d invite them to take my course and enhance their ability to communicate with impact, influence authentically and feel more confident in managing through conflict.
What are some transformations you’ve seen students experience during or after the course?
One of the biggest transformations that I’ve seen my students experience is their own self-confidence. With each course, there usually is a range of confidence level in how each of my students handle conflict during a negotiation. By the end of my course, the general consensus is that they not only learned new concepts of how to navigate through difficult negotiations and conversations, but they feel much more confident in doing so. In large, this is due to the fact that I incorporate real-life scenarios into the role playing activities. This allows them to practice as we learn and build up their confidence during the 10-week course.
So when someone questions whether they “need” negotiation skills, I’d ask them to reflect on whether or not they feel as though they’d like to improve on their communication skills. If the answer is leaning toward yes, then I’d invite them to take my course.
How do you help students build confidence in difficult conversations?
This is something that I coach a lot of my clients on and bring into the classroom.
Usually what makes conversations “difficult” isn’t that the topic is overly complex or inherently uncomfortable. That “difficulty” in conversation usually stems from one thing that is either lacking or is fuzzy-trust. When humans don’t feel trust, conversations become extremely difficult to have and move forward.
One of the things I teach is to practice the ability to establish, build and continuously reinforce trust because it takes time and intention. The key ingredient for this is authenticity.
What are some common workplace situations where professionals are negotiating without even realizing it?
We are constantly negotiating every single day. That deadline you’re discussing with your manager, it’s a negotiation. That project scope you may be trying to decide on with other team members, it’s a negotiation. That vacation you’re trying to take and the coverage plan you’re putting together, it’s a negotiation.
A student recently shared during class one day, “Wow, after our first few classes together, I began to look around and notice just how many negotiations I have every day at work and at home. It’s a lot! And the techniques and concepts we learn here are helping me feel so much more confident at handling them—especially when they’re difficult conversations.”
Influence and presence are much more about how you say it and how you make people around you feel. People need to know that you are real and genuine before they can begin to see you as someone they respect or admire for your executive presence.
What do professionals often get wrong about influence, executive presence or advocating for themselves at work?
People often focus too much on what they want to say, or having the perfect script to cover all of the points they want to convey. They spend a lot of effort on memorizing and they end up mistaking perfection for personality. More importantly, they lose their purpose along the way.
Influence and presence are much more about how you say it and how you make people around you feel. People need to know that you are real and genuine before they can begin to see you as someone they respect or admire for your executive presence.
When it comes to advocating for oneself at work, one of the most common concerns or hesitations I hear is that they don’t want to come across as bragging. Or they feel as though their work will “speak for itself.” Your work won’t speak for itself. You need to give it life. And you can do so not by talking about what you did, but by focusing on the impact that you delivered and how it helped your peers, your team or your company.
Don’t over think it and definitely don’t over-script it. In a world of AI and perfectly scripted responses, people can smell right through something that didn’t come from the heart.
The most effective negotiators are the ones who ask the best questions and get the most influence and insight based on the responses received.
What’s one negotiation strategy you wish you had learned earlier in your own career?
Asking more questions! Negotiation is a beautiful dance between art and science. The most effective negotiators are the ones who ask the best questions and get the most influence and insight based on the responses received.
Outside of work, where can we find you?
Spending time with my husband, two dogs and barn cats at home. I am also constantly working on my next home garden project or just keeping the pasture mowed down. I live in a small, rural town in Northern California, and when I’m not on a Zoom call, I try to spend my time outside watching the deer, coyotes or other critters around our area and spending time writing, reading and being with my thoughts.
What is the one item in your office that is most representative of your personality?
A postcard that I’ve had for many years that says, “Water your grass. Keep it green.”
