This month I had the pleasure to
interview, Ms. Herbrena Gordon. Ms. Herbrena Gordon is a beautiful, talented, sophisticated,
smart, and God fearing entrepreneur. The impact of this interview on my life is
overwhelming, and I believe the words I used to describe Ms. Herbrena are not
doing her enough justice. Ms. Herbrena began her career in the entertainment
industry in a very humble way. Her first job was working on the street team for
TLC’s first album. During her time on the street team, Ms. Herbrena learned
valuable lessons about negotiation, the topic of our interview. After TLC, Ms. Herbrena
career in the entertainment industry began to flourish. Ms. Herbrena was the
first host for Grambling State Sport Radio Show, which led to a variety of
radio personality jobs in New Orleans, and Ohio. Apart from hosting, Ms. Herbrena
has had several roles in movies. Now and days Ms. Herbrena is involve in several
entrepreneur ventures. Ms. Herbrena is part owner of Real Talk, a station that
talks music with upcoming artists and producer. Apart from the radio Ms. Herbrena
is Co CEO of the television shows Trendz Tv, and Trendz Gospel. Ms. Herbrena is also part owner of IM
Chronic. IM Chronic will
deliver a reality like series that focuses on powerful and influential people
who suffer from chronic diseases. After getting to know all that Ms. Herbrena
is involve in, I learn her true passion, helping the youth of the community is
what really motivates Ms. Herbrena.
My interview with Ms. Herbrena was so
dynamic; I not only learned about negotiating, I learned about life from a entrepreneur,
who has no fear. During the interview, I had five questions I wanted to ask Ms.
Herbrena. The five questions are as followed:
How do you separate the people from the
problem when you are negotiating? What tips do you have for new negotiators who
are trying to do this? Can you give me an example of how you worked toward a mutual
benefit when you were negotiating a deal? Have you negotiated with someone who
used dirty tricks such as: Deliberate deception, Psychological warfare, or
positional pressure tactics? If so, how did you handle the situation? What is
the role of self-confidence when negotiating?
In
order to answer my questions, Ms. Herbrena gave me a scenario. Ms. Herbrena
explained that we begin to learn how to negotiation when we are children. “In
order to separate the people from the problem, think about how you got your
parents to buy that special Christmas gift.” She stated, “Your parents probably told you that you had
to make good grades and behave good in school.” The key she explained to
separating the people from the problem is to research the people to find out
their interest. Ms. Herbrena states that researching the other party is the
most important part of the negotiating. When you find out the other party
interests, then you will have confidence in your ability to negotiate. Ms.
Herbrena then told me that once I know the other party's interests we could
work on a mutual agreement, I could develop a BATNA, and the objective
criteria. Using her example I realize that my parents where interest in me passing
to the next grade, good behavior and learning the class material. I could make
the objective criteria pertain to the class average in all my courses. If my
parents wanted all A’s I could present them with a BATNA, the BATNA would state
that I would pick up all my grades by one letter. Ms. Herbrena told me to
master this technique because most of all negotiation in the entertainment
industry will follow this path. I then ask Ms. Herbrena about dirty tricks used
in the industry. Pertaining to dirty tricks, Ms. Herbrena stressed to me the
importance of knowing the other party, but also the importance knowing my self
before I begin to negotiate. She stated, “Sometimes you will be the product in
the negotiation, and integrity goes a long way.” Ms. Herbrena then told me,
“Women are sometime used by companies to negotiation with men.”
In closing, Ms. Herbrena stated, “We all begin to master our negotiation techniques
during childhood. If we look to the child hood tactics that we used, we can
learn to master the art of negotiating.”
I would like to Thank Ms. Herbrena for
taking time out of her busy schedule to talk with me, a conversion about
negotiation, open up my heart to so many different ideas, and concepts. Thank
you again, and May God continue to bless you.
~
LT
