Don't hate the player...

This week I learned that there are two Christinas.

One is the Real Christina. She is pretty upfront, pessimistic in her forecasts, hates playing mind games, likes to meet people more than halfway, and never insists on her opinions...they are all only half-formed anyway.

That Christina got her butt kicked around in Negotiation Workshops last week and made terrible deals for her pretend clients. In one particularly botched negotiation I said my client would work for essentially $5,000 when the going rate was actually $22,000. Oops.

So say hello to Christina Number Two. She's a tough, hard-bargaining, over-confidant, trash-talking blowhard. She challenges every assumption that is favorable to the other side and exaggerates her own positional strength (ad nauseum). She asks for twice what she would be happy with and four times what would be fair. She feels like an overly aggressive alpha male.

I hate Christina Number Two. But in a world of liers, theives, and scammers, it's play or be played, right?

Or maybe there's a way to change the game...