Bring Yourself: How to Harness the Power of Connection to Negotiate Fearlessly

A look at how relationships can drive successful negotiation, from an award-winning faculty member at the Wharton School of Business.

Contrary to conventional wisdom about what makes a good negotiator - namely, being aggressive and unemotional - in Bring Yourself, Taheripour offers a radically different perspective. In her own life, and in her more than 15 years of experience teaching negotiation, she's found that the best negotiators are empathetic, curious, and present. The essence of bargaining isn't the transaction, but the conversation and human connection. It is when we bring our whole, authentic selves to the table that we can advocate for ourselves fearlessly and find creative solutions that benefit everyone.

Taheripour has seen the power of this mindset shift firsthand. In her consulting, her classes at Wharton, and in her work teaching negotiation for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, her students and clients experience personal breakthroughs as they face the fears and false narratives that held them back. Bring Yourself explains how our pressure points, personal experience, and even our cultural expectations can become roadblocks to finding common ground, and it offers essential strategies to move beyond them and open our minds. Taheripour argues that regardless of our own perceived ability to negotiate, we must have the courage to engage because bargaining plays a crucial role in every aspect of our lives. We negotiate boundaries with our parents and partners, bedtimes with our kids, and even with ourselves every time we make a pros and cons list to weigh a major decision. Negotiation is how we problem solve and how we find our voice.

With eye-opening and empowering stories throughout, Bring Yourself helps readers gain the confidence they need to achieve their goals in work and in life. Timely and provocative, this paradigm-shifting book can transform our world and the way we work together.

Mori Taheripour is a faculty member in the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches Negotiations and Dispute Resolution at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Repeatedly recognized for her outstanding abilities as a faculty member, Taheripour is a five-time recipient of awards for excellence in teaching. She also co-founded the Wharton Sports Business Initiative (WSBI), a partnership among top business leaders, faculty, and students that generates and disseminates knowledge about the sports industry through educational programs, high-level student consulting assignments, global forums, and research. Taheripour earned her MBA from the Wharton School and her BA in psychology and pre-medical studies from Barnard College/Columbia University.