Today Buyers Meeting would like to welcome back Mark Bilgin, career negotiator and the author of Mastering High Stakes Negotiations. Mark will be joining BMP Radio for a regular podcast series – one that we’ve welcomed community input on. Today we will focus on the importance of trust and transparency in negotiation based on comments and feedback we received in response to a LinkedIn post shared last week. Here is an excerpt from High Stakes Negotiations: Trust and respect are two fundamental ingredients for any healthy relationship, including negotiations. Creating this trusted environment with the other party is imperative. Here are some ground rules I review before the start of the meeting. I even ask the counterparty to add any additional ones if he or she would like to create a fair and democratic environment right from the get go. One person speaks at a time.Show mutual respect.We expect to have a constructive, honest dialogue.Check your understanding by asking questions. In this conversation we'll discuss: If you can have either trust or transparency without the other, and which needs to come first. If procurement is trying to strategically increase transparency/build relationships with our suppliers, how can do so while still minimizing risk?