Traditional approaches to contract negotiation, heavily focused on risk mitigation, are increasingly misaligned with business needs. New research shows that while companies spend considerable time haggling over legal protections, the most common sources of disagreement during contract execution are practical issues like pricing, scope, and delivery. The path forward requires a fundamental shift in how we approach negotiations. This isn't about abandoning risk management ' it's about recognizing that the best risk management strategy is often creating clear, practical agreements focused on mutual success. Organizations that make this shift are seeing tangible benefits: faster negotiations, better acceptance rates, and most importantly, more successful business relationships....

The prototypical image of a successful negotiator is someone who is competent, confident, and in control ' characteristics that are not always readily applied to disabled people. Two researchers wanted to understand if disabled people are more stigmatized in an intense job task, such as a potentially contentious, price-based negotiation. And if so, is this stigma more pronounced for women and/or those with an invisible disability' They had 2,000 people complete an online experiment where they read a transcript of a negotiation involving an employee named 'Alex,' who they rated on integrity and competence. The experiment varied the presentation of Alex as a male or female, as well as with no disability, a visible disability (seated in a wheelchair), an invisible disability (described as episodic epilepsy), or an invisible disability (described as bipolar disorder). They found that those who saw Alex as male with a visible disability rated him as having more integrity and competence than any of the other versions ' an effect that disappeared when Alex was a woman. When Alex was described as living with bipolar disorder, the male version was seen to have less integrity, while the female version was perceived as both having less integrity and seeming less competent. Their results speak to the extra burden of discrimination faced by those with mental health disabilities, especially for women who seem to face the 'double bind' of the intersection of stigmatized categories....

Plastic pollution has spread to Earth's farthest reaches, with widespread effects on wildlife, the environment and human health. To curb this problem, U.N. member countries are negotiating a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution, which they aim to complete by the end of 2024. That effort is well underway. In September 2023, the U.N. Environment Programme released the so-called zero draft ' a first iteration of ideas and goals that emerged from the first two rounds of negotiations. And in November 2023, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution met in Nairobi, Kenya, for the third negotiating round of a planned five sessions. Studies show that plastic causes harm in all stages of its life cycle, from production through use and disposal. Because the draft treaty includes provisions that address all of these phases, environmental advocates greeted it as a step in the right direction. The draft includes 13 provisions that address issues such as reducing plastics production, the use of recycled materials, phasing out single-use plastics, promoting alternative materials and limiting the use of chemicals of concern ' materials that have high toxicities and the potential to be released from plastic products. But with three rounds of negotiations now complete, major questions remain unresolved....

Deutsche Lufthansa AG shelved a planned sale of a minority stake in its maintenance and repair subsidiary, the world's biggest business of its kind that had attracted interest from several private-equity bidders. The German carrier said that instead of selling a part of Lufthansa Technik, the company will implement its growth plans 'independently,' according to a stock-exchange filing. The company said it's seeing opportunities particularly from the increasing number of engines that are coming in for maintenance. 'In view of the ongoing manufacturer problems ' especially with engines ' the strategic value of our Lufthansa Technik as an integral part of the Lufthansa Group has again increased significantly in recent months,' Lufthansa Technik said in a separate release. Lufthansa had considered selling as much as 20% of Technik, valuing the entire subsidiary at about $8.7bn, people familiar with the talks said. The plan to retain the asset is a surprise reversal for Europe's largest airline group, which has been selling assets while seeking to expand its airline operation with a bid for Italy's ITA Airways, formerly Alitalia....