Episode 120: Ben Kimura-Gross Regenpreneur Story - Taking on the Right Negotiations in Life

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Welcome to the Seeds of Tao Podcast, where we help impact entrepreneurs in their journey to cultivate regenerative businesses. In this episode, we explore the critical role negotiations play in driving positive change. Our guest, Ben, shares his experiences and insights gained from working with regenerative businesses and projects. From navigating the "Valley of Death" to transitioning his career towards regenerative outcomes, Ben offers valuable lessons on negotiation patterns, drawing inspiration from Nelson Mandela's approach. Join us as we uncover the art of negotiation and discover how it can be harnessed to create a sustainable and impactful future.

Show Notes:

4:32 Ben’s shares where he began in his work.

5:57 How Ben started working with regenerative businesses and projects, and seeing the "valley of death" in innovative businesses

9:26 Ben had a call to action to help with impact-driven missions when Gavin slapped him with a big morality club

11:54 Ben's epiphany of how negotiation gets more difficult in moments of crisis

17:38 Ben’s research process for switching his career to helping regenerative outcomes, and co-founding the greenheart project along with the challenges along that journey

26:57 Ben discusses the patterns on negotiation, and the three aspects of negotiation he learned from Nelson Mandela, to create a safe space, overcoming fear and pressure in negotiation, and the role of compassion.

42:41 Ben brings the conversation full circle as he discusses negotiations with ourselves, before we can negotiate with others we have to have the internal negotiations with our team to know the goals we want to accomplish

57:59 Ben shares the takeaways from his story, to welcome the learner mind into your life when transitioning to a new career or a new business, and to reorganize your priorities towards what’s most important in the end

Guest Bio: 

Ben Kimura Gross - LinkedIn Profile

I live & breathe negotiation. In my experience, the best deals happen when you've established a human connection. Yes, techniques like knowing your BATNA, framing, anchoring etc matter.

But nothing beats a negotiator with great perspective-switching skills, a naturally curious, empathic trust-builder. And nothing's worse than a guy on the other side of the table who comes across like a bulldozer.

Of course, even those can be handled with skill - and that's part of my mission: to help small and medium-sized companies improve their results when NEGOTIATING WITH GOLIATH.

Having trained leaders at major corporations and the German government, I know a thing or two about "Goliaths" - and I've supported people on the inside to facilitate much-needed change.

Recently, my focus has shifted to the green tech sector (aka blue tech in shipping), for three reasons:
1. personal desire to help
2. increased requests for help
3. time's runnin' out, folks.

If this is you, write me and let's see what I can do for you. I'm all in.

Host Bio:

Joshua Prieto - LinkedIn Profile

Josh is the Co-Founder and Director of the Seeds of Tao learning platform for regenerative entrepreneurs. He has over 10 years of experience creating, building, and operating startup solutions alongside entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. That experience has shown him that entrepreneurs have the biggest role to play in the Anthropocene as we either create the solutions for, or become the root problem of, our people, planet, and future. Josh now co-creates educational programs that disrupt the current way our entrepreneurs learn. His holistically designed educational programs empower entrepreneurs to stop chasing “silver-bullet” solutions and start designing solutions that use regenerative systems.