The Negotiator's Compass™—Find Your Bearings: A Guide to Navigating Conversations That Matter

WHO YOU ARE IS HOW YOU NEGOTIATE.

The negotiation doesn't happen to you. It happens as you.
Whatever you bring into the room is exactly what shows up in the conversation.

AND HOW YOU SHOW UP SHAPES WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

Most negotiation books teach you what to say and what to do — methods, tactics, scripts for when the conversation gets hard. The Negotiator's Compass™ takes a different starting point. It asks who you are when you walk in. Because no tactic survives the moment you forget.

This book is for the conversations that decide things.

For the leader, the founder, the entrepreneur — staring down the deal that decides the next decade.
For the parent at the kitchen table at 11 p.m.
For the job seeker about to ask for what they're worth.
For the friend who needs to say what nobody else will.
For the curious seeking depth of insight
For those in public service carrying a decision that belongs to everyone.
For the trusted advisor whose next conversation changes someone's future.

For anyone whose work or life depends on the people in front of them.

Eighteen lessons. A working compass.

Across eighteen short chapters, Dr. Howard H. Thaw lays out a practical Compass for the conversations that matter — built on four bearings:

• Clarity — knowing what you actually want, before you walk in
• Curiosity — staying genuinely open to what the other person is bringing
• Courage — speaking the hard thing when the easy thing won't hold
• Care — protecting the relationship while you protect your interests

The Compass is a working instrument, not a metaphor. It prepares you before the conversation, keeps you steady during it, and helps you find your way back when you've drifted.

What you'll find inside:

• A clear framework for orienting yourself in any hard conversation
• Eighteen practical lessons drawn from cockpits, medical labs, boardrooms, and kitchen tables
• Dozens of stories about negotiations that worked — and the ones that taught the most
• A field guide and toolbox at the back for quick reference when the moment arrives
• A complete Quick Compass Check you can run before any conversation that matters

What makes this different.

This isn't a book just about winning.
It's about getting what you want without losing who you are.

Outcomes matter — and how you get there matters just as much.

The principles you already carry into hard conversations are the foundation.
The Negotiator's Compass™ gives them a name, an architecture, and a place to do their work.

About the author.

Dr. Howard H. Thaw is a veteran commercial pilot and flight instructor, a founder and operator of multiple technology companies, and a senior executive with more than four decades in the rooms where the cost of being wrong is high. His career spans medical research, forensic science, and technology entrepreneurship across multiple continents.

If you've been looking for a negotiation book that respects who you already are — and gives you a working instrument for the conversations that decide things — start here.

Get what you want without losing who you are.
Because who you are is how you negotiate,
and how you show up shapes what happens next.