The art of sequencing your agreements: Lessons from Nixon and Kissinger
“Sequencing in negotiation involves lining up deals so that each deal raises the odds of knocking over the next one.”
When President Nixon and Henry Kissinger were planning their historic visit to restore diplomatic relations with Communist China in the early 1970’s, they were mindful of an even bigger need to get the Russians to agree to a summit, to discuss placing limits on nuclear weapons production.
For 14 months, the Americans had talked to the Russians about holding a summit - with little concrete progress. The Russians kept stalling and stalling.
However, the announcement from Washington that Nixon was planning a visit to China, put increased pressure on the Russians. The Russians were worried the Americans would ally with China into an anti-Russian Sino-America alliance. The Russians quickly shifted ground.
At a meeting with Henry Kissinger on June 8, the Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, became in Kissinger’s words, “…totally insecure.” The Soviet Ambassador stopped being “grudgingly” and “petty” and spoke in a spirit of “goodwill”. Moscow was now very keen for a summit, but asked the Americans to “come to Moscow before going to Beijing.”
Kissinger said no. Meeting with the Chinese would create further leverage for the U.S. when they had talks in Moscow.
Whenever you’re planning to negotiate with a critical but difficult party, ask yourself which prior deals or agreements with another party will tip the balance towards agreement with the most important player you ultimately need to do business with.
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