Peter Johnston
Encyclopedia
Peter D. Johnston is an international negotiation expert whose results have been formally recognized by the US Government for their positive economic and social impact.
Johnston is the author of the award-winning bestseller Negotiating with Giants (May 2008), in which he lays out distinct strategies and tactics based on his own experiences and those of dozens of smaller players from across time who got what they wanted from towering organizations and individuals in extreme circumstances.
Negotiating with Giants was recognized by an international jury at the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
as one of the best independently published books across four distinct categories: Business, Social Change, Motivational, and How-to.
Johnston refers to successful smaller players as “Size Wizards” because of their ability to make themselves bigger, their giants smaller and their opportunities much larger than they would otherwise be. Size Wizards profiled through more than 100 stories and detailed examples in Johnston’s book include Baron Robert Fitzwalter
(Magna Carta
), Benjamin Franklin
, Nelson Mandela
, Harriet Beecher Stowe
(Uncle Tom's Cabin
), Rachel Carson
(Silent Spring
), Richard Branson
, Cynthia Cooper (WorldCom), Courteney Cox
(Friends
) and hostage Ashley Smith. Johnston maintains that smaller players must learn from those who’ve gone before them because the number of giants in our lives today, and their size, is unprecedented historically―while the stakes in areas such as the environment and international relations are perhaps higher than ever before.
As a negotiator, advisor, mediator and teacher, Johnston works with companies, governments and non-profit organizations of all sizes worldwide, tackling their toughest negotiation challenges. He has advised clients ranging from Wall Street bankers, UN officials and political leaders to start-up entrepreneurs, cheated spouses and convicted felons. Corporate clients have included Microsoft
, Intel, Oracle Corporation
, PricewaterhouseCoopers
, Johnson & Johnson
, Suez, and HSBC
. He practices “integrated negotiation,” an approach he and his firm developed that maximizes value by seamlessly weaving together a negotiator’s core operating activities with their negotiation activities. Johnston emphasizes influence strategies away from the negotiation table that better position negotiators once they arrive at the negotiation table, if they choose to negotiate directly at all.
The early foundations for Johnston’s unique approaches to influence were formed by working closely with founders of the Harvard Negotiation Project, the Program on Negotiation and the Harvard Negotiation Roundtable in the mid-to-late 1990s. His mentors in the negotiation field are Harvard Business School
Professor Howard Raiffa
(The Art and Science of Negotiation) and Harvard Law School
Professor Roger Fisher (Getting to YES
). A reviewer from Embassy Magazine
, Jeff Davis, compares Johnston’s book Negotiating with Giants to that of his best-selling Harvard mentor, saying: “Whereas Getting to Yes provided the broad strokes of negotiation strategy, Mr. Johnston uses a finer brush to fill in an important corner of the canvas.”
Johnston graduated from Harvard in 1990 with an MBA focused on negotiation and finance. As part of his studies, he advised his first negotiation client, Bob Kraft
, now owner of the New England Patriots
. The advice related to the negotiation of a joint venture in eastern Europe involving Kraft's paper holdings at the time. During his years at the Harvard Business School, Johnston was elected co-president of the Canadian Club.
After graduating from Harvard, he went on to work in corporate and investment banking for the TD Financial Group
, overseeing and aggressively building up the bank’s business in Continental Europe. Afterward, he was drawn back to Cambridge
to join Raiffa and Fisher in teaching negotiation and applying Harvard negotiation research to client work in the US and abroad.
Before attending Harvard, Johnston worked as a correspondent for the CTV Television Network
in Canada, covering economic and political news. He started reporting for CTV between his classes at Carleton University
in Ottawa, Canada, where he was a student and would later receive a Bachelor degree in journalism (1985). He was awarded the Henry Marshall Tory Award, given to the university's outstanding graduate for academic achievement, extracurricular contributions and leadership.
Born in Montreal
, Quebec
, Johnston now divides his time between the US and Canada, as well as both coasts. While he worked quietly behind the scenes on behalf of his clients for more than a decade, with the release of Negotiating with Giants, his profile has been raised significantly. He’s been interviewed by media around the world, talking about his work, his book and commenting on newsworthy negotiations, conflicts, and political and economic issues. He has been quoted widely in newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal
and online media including Fortune Small Business
, BusinessWeek
, FOX Business News and The Globe and Mail
. He's also been interviewed on dozens of radio and television programs, ranging from CNN
and ABC’s “America This Morning” to Oprah & Friends
and Jim Blasingame’s
nationally syndicated Small Business Advocate Show in the United States. Johnston often lectures at universities and speaks at conferences. He is the Managing Director of NAI Limited, a boutique consulting firm he founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Johnston is the author of the award-winning bestseller Negotiating with Giants (May 2008), in which he lays out distinct strategies and tactics based on his own experiences and those of dozens of smaller players from across time who got what they wanted from towering organizations and individuals in extreme circumstances.
Negotiating with Giants was recognized by an international jury at the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Next Generation Indie Book Awards
The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is an awards program that recognizes and honors authors and publishers of exceptional independently published books in 60 different categories...
as one of the best independently published books across four distinct categories: Business, Social Change, Motivational, and How-to.
Johnston refers to successful smaller players as “Size Wizards” because of their ability to make themselves bigger, their giants smaller and their opportunities much larger than they would otherwise be. Size Wizards profiled through more than 100 stories and detailed examples in Johnston’s book include Baron Robert Fitzwalter
Robert Fitzwalter
Lord Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. was the leader of the baronial opposition against King John of England, and one of the twenty-five sureties of the Magna Carta...
(Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
), Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom...
(Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
), Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson
Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....
(Silent Spring
Silent Spring
Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on 27 September 1962. The book is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement....
), Richard Branson
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
, Cynthia Cooper (WorldCom), Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
(Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
) and hostage Ashley Smith. Johnston maintains that smaller players must learn from those who’ve gone before them because the number of giants in our lives today, and their size, is unprecedented historically―while the stakes in areas such as the environment and international relations are perhaps higher than ever before.
As a negotiator, advisor, mediator and teacher, Johnston works with companies, governments and non-profit organizations of all sizes worldwide, tackling their toughest negotiation challenges. He has advised clients ranging from Wall Street bankers, UN officials and political leaders to start-up entrepreneurs, cheated spouses and convicted felons. Corporate clients have included Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Intel, Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
, Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....
, Suez, and HSBC
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
. He practices “integrated negotiation,” an approach he and his firm developed that maximizes value by seamlessly weaving together a negotiator’s core operating activities with their negotiation activities. Johnston emphasizes influence strategies away from the negotiation table that better position negotiators once they arrive at the negotiation table, if they choose to negotiate directly at all.
The early foundations for Johnston’s unique approaches to influence were formed by working closely with founders of the Harvard Negotiation Project, the Program on Negotiation and the Harvard Negotiation Roundtable in the mid-to-late 1990s. His mentors in the negotiation field are Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
Professor Howard Raiffa
Howard Raiffa
Howard Raiffa is the Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Managerial Economics, a joint chair held by the Business School and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University...
(The Art and Science of Negotiation) and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
Professor Roger Fisher (Getting to YES
Getting to YES
Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In is a best-selling 1981 non-fiction book by Roger Fisher and William L. Ury. Reissued in 1991 with additional authorship credit to Bruce Patton, the book made appearances for years on Business Weeks "Best Seller" list...
). A reviewer from Embassy Magazine
Embassy (magazine)
Embassy magazine is a weekly Canadian Foreign Policy Newspaper. Founded in 2004 it covers defence, foreign policy, development and aid, trade and security news and opinion from a Canadian perspective. The Embassy offices are in Ottawa....
, Jeff Davis, compares Johnston’s book Negotiating with Giants to that of his best-selling Harvard mentor, saying: “Whereas Getting to Yes provided the broad strokes of negotiation strategy, Mr. Johnston uses a finer brush to fill in an important corner of the canvas.”
Johnston graduated from Harvard in 1990 with an MBA focused on negotiation and finance. As part of his studies, he advised his first negotiation client, Bob Kraft
Robert Kraft
Robert K. Kraft is an American business magnate. He is the Chairman and was the Chief Executive Officer of The Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate development and a private equity portfolio...
, now owner of the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
. The advice related to the negotiation of a joint venture in eastern Europe involving Kraft's paper holdings at the time. During his years at the Harvard Business School, Johnston was elected co-president of the Canadian Club.
After graduating from Harvard, he went on to work in corporate and investment banking for the TD Financial Group
Toronto-Dominion Bank
The Toronto-Dominion Bank , is the second-largest bank in Canada by market capitalization and based on assets. It is also the sixth largest bank in North America. Commonly known as TD and operating as TD Bank Group, the bank was created in 1955 through the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the...
, overseeing and aggressively building up the bank’s business in Continental Europe. Afterward, he was drawn back to Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
to join Raiffa and Fisher in teaching negotiation and applying Harvard negotiation research to client work in the US and abroad.
Before attending Harvard, Johnston worked as a correspondent for the CTV Television Network
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
in Canada, covering economic and political news. He started reporting for CTV between his classes at Carleton University
Carleton University
Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...
in Ottawa, Canada, where he was a student and would later receive a Bachelor degree in journalism (1985). He was awarded the Henry Marshall Tory Award, given to the university's outstanding graduate for academic achievement, extracurricular contributions and leadership.
Born in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Johnston now divides his time between the US and Canada, as well as both coasts. While he worked quietly behind the scenes on behalf of his clients for more than a decade, with the release of Negotiating with Giants, his profile has been raised significantly. He’s been interviewed by media around the world, talking about his work, his book and commenting on newsworthy negotiations, conflicts, and political and economic issues. He has been quoted widely in newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and online media including Fortune Small Business
Fortune Small Business
Fortune Small Business ' was a magazine published ten times each year. The publication was a joint venture by The Fortune Group at Time Inc. and American Express Small Business Services...
, BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
, FOX Business News and The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
. He's also been interviewed on dozens of radio and television programs, ranging from CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and ABC’s “America This Morning” to Oprah & Friends
Oprah & Friends
Oprah Radio is a talk radio channel programmed by Harpo Productions' radio division, and is signed exclusively for XM Satellite Radio. Oprah Radio includes regular programming on topics such as current events, self improvement, health, nutrition, fitness and home. Friends and contributors include:...
and Jim Blasingame’s
Jim Blasingame
Jim Blasingame is an American small business expert, radio talk show host, author, syndicated columnist, keynote speaker, and president of Small Business Network, Inc., a media company dedicated to serving small business...
nationally syndicated Small Business Advocate Show in the United States. Johnston often lectures at universities and speaks at conferences. He is the Managing Director of NAI Limited, a boutique consulting firm he founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
See also
- NegotiationNegotiationNegotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties, intended to reach an understanding, resolve point of difference, or gain advantage in outcome of dialogue, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, to craft outcomes to satisfy...
- Conflict managementConflict managementConflict management involves implementing strategies to limit the negative aspects of conflict and to increase the positive aspects of conflict at a level equal to or higher than where the conflict is taking place. Furthermore, the aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes...
- Change management
- International relationsInternational relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...