21/05/2026
Every room decides who it trusts before you finish your 1st sentence.
Not after your strategy, your argument or your negotiation tactics.
The decision starts in the first moments. People are scanning
* Your posture
* Your pace
* Your certainty
* Your emotional regulation
* The signals you send under pressure
* How stable is the room
Last week, over two days in Melbourne, we delivered a Speakers Institute Corporate for the Viva Energy Australia Graduate Program on influence in negotiating.
One theme kept surfacing. Pressure amplifies everything.
When pressure rises, people don’t just hear your words. They read your energy, your non-verbal communication and your signals.
That’s why negotiating is not simply a communication skill. It’s a pressure skill.
The graduates explored how to lean into pressure, rather than avoid it:
✔ Stay calm when conversations become difficult
✔ Slow down and respond instead of reacting
✔ Influence without overpowering
✔ Create stability in uncertainty
✔ Build trust before seeking agreement
✔ Focus on a collaboration vs combative energy when negotiating
The best negotiators don’t avoid pressure or fight against it.
They learn to lean into pressure with clarity, presence, and composure.
A huge thank you to the VIVA Energy graduates for their openness, self-awareness, and willingness to challenge themselves across the two days.
“YOUR FUTURE … will not be decided by what you know. It will be decided by what you can access when the room is watching.”
