The Contract Line Items Obsessive
Associate General Counsel who kills deals by treating every contract clause as a hill to die on.
14 min
Duration
About this persona
Helen Marsh is meticulous, principled, and exhausting to negotiate with. She has a legitimate concern about every clause and treats them all as equally non-negotiable. The result is that deals that should close in two weeks drag into three months. Getting a deal to close with Helen requires someone who can help her distinguish between clauses that protect the company and clauses that merely feel protective, and to triage her concerns rather than treating every comma as mission-critical.
Scenario
You are a business development lead trying to close a commercial partnership agreement. Helen has sent back a contract with 47 comments and counting. You need to get this to signature within ten days.
Skills tested
- triage under obstruction
- reframing perfectionism
- separating high from low stakes
- building trust without giving in
- forward momentum management
What you'll practice
- How to triage a negotiation without dismissing legitimate concerns
- The difference between a protective clause and a comfort clause
- How to help someone set aside a lower-stakes concern without losing face
- What forward momentum sounds like in a stalled negotiation
Personality traits
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