The Negotiation Challenge 2016 in Vienna

It has been 10 years since we organized The Negotiation Challenge for the first time.  Back then not even in our wildest dreams did we imagine how well it would develop and where it would take us.  It has been an amazing journey!

On April 1-2, world’s greatest student negotiators met in Vienna and competed for the title of The Great Negotiator 2016.  16 teams from nearly all continents measured and compared their negotiation skills in an unofficial World Championship in Negotiation.

After 4 qualification rounds, we the final took place between American University Washington College of Law and…  we had a problem.  We had a tie for the second spot in the final between Reykjavik University and University of California, Hastings College of the Law.  According to our regulations, the second finalist had to be chosen randomly by a coin toss, and the coin chose…  the team representing UC Hastings.

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Whitney Geitz, Sara Fay Katz, and Danielle Ling Chang negotiating for UC Hastings.

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Laura daRosa, Colleen Wellington-Caban, and Jung Kim representing American University Washington College of Law.

The jury consisting of Prof. Dr. Sabine Köszegi, Steve Gates, CEO of The Gap Partnership, and Alexander von Reden, Partner at CMS decided that the title of  The Great Negotiators 2016 would go to American University Washington College of Law.  Congratulations to Laura, Colleen, and Jung!

The Negotiation Challenge 2016 was truly amazing and it would not have been possible without kind hospitality of our hosts Vienna Technical University with Prof. Dr. Sabine Köszegi and her team as well as Vienna University with with Prof. Dr. Rudolph Vetschera and his team.  We thank all our supporters and sponsors and look forward to meeting a new batch of world’s best student negotiators in Bogota next year!

Source: TNC 2016 – TNC | The Negotiation Challenge | International Negotiation Competition

If we do not believe in a better future, it will not happen – on innovations with innovation consultants

This interview is a bit older but hopefully not less relevant.  One of the most important characteristics of an innovation manager is his/her firm belief in a better future and a passion to make it happen.

Source: If we do not believe in a better future, it will not happen

comdirect Start-up Garage – Rethinking Banking. Together

comdirect Start-up Garage is my newest baby.  Setting up a brand new FinTech accelerator program in stellar speed together with Mariusz Bodek was a great fun.  With lots of encouragement from the board, Mariusz’s endless energy and commitment and a positive response from the FinTech community, we have created a collaborative platform supporting smart and ambitious founders on their way towards the first million and a hockey stick experience.

startup garage

I am very happy about the amount of attention our initiative has raised in the press and the FinTech community and positively surprised by the number and the quality of submitted applications.

We have already invited the first teams, who will join us at the beginning of 2016 in the comdirect Start-up Garage and look forward to welcoming them soon.  We keep our fingers crossed, hoping that some of them will walk in the footsteps of the famous garage entrepreneurs.

In parallel, we have described our inspiration and the entire thought process leading to founding the Start-up Garage in a book chapter, which is coming out in the first quarter of 2016.

Source: comdirect Start-up Garage – Rethinking Banking together

Art of Negotiation – On Negotiation Teaching in Germany

I am very happy that my work in the area of negotiation has recently been noticed by Süddeutsche Zeitung – one of the main German newspapers.  We need lots more of those to help negotiation reach the status it deserves in academia.  It might be hard to believe but negotiation is still not taught at the most German universities and there are only a few colleagues, who focus on it in their research.  Read more…

Source: Verhandlungskunst – Mit Strategie zum Ziel – Karriere – Süddeutsche.de

Bankathon: 30 Hours for the Future of Banking

Here are some of my impressions from Bankathon 2015.  It was a great event and we are very happy, we could be a part of it.  Congratulations to the organizers!  We look forward to welcoming the winners in comdirect startup garage soon!

Der Bankathon ist ein schönes Beispiel dafür, wie fruchtbar die enge Kooperation von Entwicklern/Fintechs und Banken sein kann. Wir glauben fest daran, dass dies der richtige Weg ist und werden auch künftig innovative Projekte und Ideen fördern.

Bankathon is a great example of how fruitful a close cooperation between developers / Fintechs and banks can be. We strongly believe that this is the right way and will continue to promote innovative projects and ideas in the future.

Source: Bankathon: 30 Stunden für die Zukunft des Banking

Let’s get it started!

Finally, I got my act together, transferred my domain, bought by the way at least a half a decade ago, setup and configured a hosting service and now I’m writing my this:  my first post.  It’s been a rather bumpy ride so far and there is sooo much more to do to make things look right but as Confucius said:  “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.  Stay tuned!