Once upon a deal...
Stories about life, work & negotiation
Once Upon a Deal… is an award-nominated collection of stories that reveal the principles of negotiation. When you begin to negotiate you embark upon a journey: if you know the steps involved, and understand the way its progression ebbs and flows, you will be better equipped not only to reach a successful conclusion but also to enjoy the process more.
The book is a compilation of insightful, engaging and entertaining negotiation stories written by Scotwork's negotiation experts and drawn from the team's extensive and rich experience across many sectors and situations.
Structured around Scotwork's established Eight Step Framework, the stories in the book provide relevance and context to the steps of the framework, each providing a compelling, topical and often personal insight into a particular area of negotiation.
The book has been nominated for The Business Book Awards 2024.
Get ready to rethink negotiation, and discover practical tips and tricks along theway to build your skill and confidence.
Negotiation is everywhere. Yet even though we use it all the time - at work and at home - very few of us really understand how it works, and many of us find it uncomfortable.
About the author...
Horace McDonald
UK CEO
Having started his career in Marketing, with a subsequent move to Sales, Horace was then schooled in the diverse environments of FMCG followed by the Music Industry, experiencing a variety of different styles and approaches from acquiring commercial experience working with retailers for both big consumer brands and entertainment where the ‘brands’ talk back to you.
Horace started his career at Unilever, after a stint working on deodorant brands, including the mighty Sure, he moved to Sales working on Superdrug, and was thrust into challenging negotiation environments. He then moved to EMI Records, which included a role as Head of National Accounts managing a team selling physical music to a variety of specialist and non-specialist retailers, then moved to Virgin Records working with artist managers on building retail campaigns across the companies' catalogues.
Following a mid-career corporate career break to develop a print-on-demand business, doing deals with car magazines and picture image brands, Horace did his first stint in one of Scotwork’s competitors, surviving 6 years teaching courses, leading a team and selling, he then spent 3 years at System1 Group a boutique market research company as Managing Director for Europe leading a team of over 50 researchers. Horace initially landed at Scotwork in early 2021 as Business Development Director. A year after he is now the CEO of the UK Business focussing on building the business and maximising the capability of the UK team. Horace also serves as a Trustee of Hoxton Hall one of the UK’s oldest music halls.
About Scotwork
Scotwork has been in the business of developing capability in commercial negotiation for nearly 50 years: these entertaining stories are drawn from the team’s extensive and rich experience across many sectors and situations.
Scotwork has been in the business of developing capability in commercial negotiation for nearly 50 years: these entertaining stories are drawn from the team’s extensive and rich experience across many sectors and situations.
