Managing Principal of Lax Sebenius LLC, a firm that assists companies in complex negotiations and competitive bidding and in building their capability to negotiate effectively, Lax was a member of the Harvard Business School faculty from 1981 to 1989. Upon leaving HBS, he served as an investment banker representing labor unions and as a merchant banker and was involved in transactions including venture capital, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures and privatizations. Educated at Princeton and Harvard, he holds a doctorate in statistics. In its depth, variety, and staying power, the Harvard Business School Executive Education experience is unlike any other in the world. Harvard Business School's legendary case study approach gives participants the opportunity to explore a wide variety of real-life negotiation scenarios, often with the added perspectives of the faculty who developed the cases and know the players and actual outcomes.
Participants analyze case studies individually, in group discussions, and through team projects.
Putting themselves in the positions of the managers involved, they must analyze facts, define problems, compare alternatives, formulate solutions, commit to an action plan, and sell colleagues on the merits of their respective positions. By directly negotiating with the others in the program, the most and least successful approaches can be distilled and related to the larger dealmaking framework developed in the course. The pace is rapid-fire and the atmosphere highly realistic. Not only do these sessions produce valuable insights, but they also provide useful practice in applying the course's dealmaking framework. Harvard Business School educates business leaders in the use of the tools on which they will rely when they are back on the job and applying their learning.