#58 – Lessons from NASA: How to Negotiate Like a Scientist

This week on S4N, Gene leans into the recent public fascination with NASA – intensified by Artemis II's journey to the moon – to explore a different kind of mission: how to negotiate like a scientist. Drawing on ideas from organizational psychologist Adam Grant and his book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, Gene breaks down why most of us default to defending our views instead of testing them – and how that instinct limits our effectiveness at the table. Learn how to treat your opinions like hypotheses, how to pressure-test the other side's assumptions without triggering resistance, and how to replace certainty with curiosity without losing credibility or control. Along the way, Gene connects NASA's post-Challenger disaster shift toward a learning culture – where questioning isn't weakness, it's responsibility – to the kind of environment great negotiators create: one where people feel safe enough to speak honestly, challenge ideas, and uncover what actually matters. Remember: negotiation is life. Mentioned in this episode: Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant The Fighting 69th, the 1940 film directed by William Keighley