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Mike Hartley-Brewer is an internationally recognised authority on the theory and practice of negotiation. The firm he established, Hartley-Brewer Negotiation Consultants (HBNC), is widely regarded as the preeminent provider of both negotiation skills training and advice on planning and conducting high value negotiations.
Although he no longer conducts training courses himself, Mike personally trained and mentored the HBNC consulting team.
He advises the firm’s clients on how best to meet their needs and is available on request to provide advice to clients on the conduct of important negotiations.
Mike graduated in behavioural sciences. He then worked as a journalist, a Political Adviser to the British Government, and a ‘trouble-shooter’ and head of training for an international oil trading company before setting up his specialist negotiation consultancy in 1985.
As the leading consultant in his field, Mike worked all over the world with blue chip companies in many sectors, in both training and consulting roles.
He has been profiled in several national newspapers and was the subject of a documentary on BBC Television.
Mike also taught negotiation skills at London Business School for MBA students, managers and entrepreneurs.
He enjoys sailing, scuba diving and playing poker.
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The Monkey is one of the vivid images we use in our training to make a key concept memorable. This image in particular has become a totem for our firm: a toy monkey attends every course, and the BBC made a documentary about us titled The Monkey Man.
A “monkey on your back” is a problem you have – in negotiation terms, that makes you want a deal even on bad terms. E.g. you’re under time pressure / you don’t have any other offers / you think the quality of the other offers is poor.
Monkeys lead most negotiators to underestimate their own relative power and so negotiate too ‘chicken’. And there is a structural reason for this error. – When you look at your own situation you are only too aware of your own monkeys. But the other party may not be aware of these factors.• At the same time, the other guy has problems too – and he isn’t going to tell you about the monkeys on his back as this would only weaken his position. • So you have a distorted view of the power balance. It’s distorted because you have taken account of all your monkeys, but have not allowed for the monkeys he almost certainly has on his back – because you don’t know about those. And the distortion is always in the same direction: it always leads you to underestimate your own power.
