The Graduate Baruchian

Written By: Danielle V Hemsley MS Statistics Candidate

Do you want your next business meeting to be more successful?  Looking for a better deal on a used car purchase? Wondering how to deal with that obnoxious co-worker? Still looking for a business elective to take next semester?

Lucky for you, the Negotiation, MGMT 9660 class at Baruch, taught by Professor Rodney Brown will help you figure out answers to all these questions.  This isn’t a class where you will learn complex formulas or equations, nor will you analyze financial statements.

It is a class where you will learn extremely valuable life skills about negotiation.  Through the use of the DISC model you will acquire knowledge that will increase your ability to interact with your co-workers, leading to better success in the work place.  Negotiation is not just for Real Estate tycoons and Stock Brokers; it is for everyone.  Professor Brown writes in his syllabus, “We negotiate ‘contracts’ all the time with landlords, merchants, family members, and peers.  We negotiate labor contracts, employment and housing.  We even negotiate for space on the Subway.”

Rodney Brown

Rodney Brown is a working professional with lots of experience in Negotiation, Conflict Resolution, and Mediation.  He has worked in Labor Disputes, Family Mediation, and Legal Arbitration. Brown shares his expertise with the class and utilizes a model called DISC in class to help students learn about their behavior style at work.  Over the last 10 years, Brown has used DISC with 250,000 participants.  DISC also offers insight into the behavior styles of co-workers and teaches students how to adapt their personal behaviors in order to maximize the outcomes of business meetings, projects, and daily interactions.

Class layout is a mix of mock negotiations, class discussion, guest speakers, exercises, and lecture.  Each class is so engaging and interesting that the 3 hours fly by (even on Saturday mornings).

I encourage you to take this class filled with extremely valuable information.  This Spring 2012 semester there is an option to take it on Saturdays 9-12 or Tuesdays 6-9pm.  If you can’t take the class this semester, try to take it in the future.

The information you learn in the personal DISC assessment will be extremely valuable for your upcoming endeavors in the workplace!

If you can’t take the class, you can contact Professor Brown directly at Rodney.Brown@Baruch.cuny.edu in order to do a personal DISC assessment.