Gentle Power

Join Gerta Malaj & Alex Choi break down our negotiation strategies, unpack real-world success stories, and share practical tactics alongside conversations with leading experts.As cofounders of YourNegotiations.com, they help execs, mid-careers, and founders negotiate job offers and business deals. They're Harvard, MIT, and Wharton alums who have helped hundreds of clients increase their comp packages by an average of $100K, with some seeing increases up to $1.7M.Their backgrounds span tech (LinkedIn, Meta), the US Air Force, venture capital, and building venture-backed companies.

Gentle Power is a business podcast hosted by Gerta and Alex at YourNegotiations.com, with 69 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Gerta and Alex at YourNegotiations.com hosts Gentle Power, a business show with 69 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Gentle Power

  68. How to negotiate rationally and relationally | Asset Acquisition Partners

  Sep 24, 202621 min

  Gerta joined John Sparks on the Accessible Paths to Financial Freedom podcast by Asset Acquisition Partners to talk about negotiation and power, and how clients at YourNegotiations.com have added hundreds of thousands of dollars to their compensation, including one who added $1.7 million. Gerta talks about growing up in Albania during a civil war with scarce resources, how that informed the kind of negotiator she is today, and why everything she teaches clients comes from first principles. She also explains why the habits that make you a great employee can make you a bad negotiator, and why she ranks preserving the relationship above everything else. Why "What's your preferred salary?" is an unfair question, and how to decline it politely How small talk like "How was your summer?" can give away leverage before any numbers come up Why oversharing helps you at work and hurts you in a negotiation How to protect and add to your leverage throughout a job search Treating negotiations as an infinite game, since you'll probably cross paths again Expanding the pie with creativity, and why Gerta recommends having fun in your negotiations For more: Book free consultation call with Alex: https://calendly.com/alexhapki/call Get our free negotiation worksheet: https://www.yournegotiations.com Read our weekly newsletter: https://yournegotiations.kit.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yournegotiations Gerta's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gertamalaj Alex's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhapki

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  Gentle Power

  67. Whoever says the first number loses | Mia Smithson

  Sep 6, 20261h 20m

  Mia Smithson is a renowned tech industry recruiter who has interviewed more than 5,000 people and hired more than 400. Amongst many achievements throughout her career, Mia joined a startup as its founding recruiter when it was around 50 people and helped grow it to a workforce of 700 across seven countries. Today, she is the Founding Head of Recruiting at a frontier AI company that hires 30 to 50 people every month. In this episode Mia walks us through the behind the scenes on the company’s side of offer negotiations. We get into the mechanics most people wonder about but never actually see, plus the tactics she has watched work across thousands of hiring conversations. She also tells us about the only time in her entire career she has seen an offer get pulled during a negotiation and what caused it. • How a company sets its range on the job posting and the influence that recruiters have over the comp package • Why a company compensation philosophy almost always overrides the compensation market data you found online • Why "whoever says the number first loses," and what to say when a recruiter asks what you're targeting • The pre-read doc Mia recommends sending before your offer call, and the pros and cons of this approach • How to talk about a competing offer without revealing the details that hurt you • How staffing and in-house recruiters get paid, which one can get you more, and where AI helps or hurts your application *Caveat: Mia is sharing her own experience and views, which don't represent any current or former employer, and nothing here is legal or financial advice. Connect with Mia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miasmithson Read her AI Hiring Newsletter: https://hiringnewsletter.ai For more: • Book free consultation call with Alex: https://calendly.com/alexhapki/call • Get our free negotiation worksheet: https://www.yournegotiations.com • Read our weekly newsletter: https://yournegotiations.kit.com • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yournegotiations • Gerta's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gertamalaj • Alex's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhapki

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  Gentle Power

  66. An employment lawyer on layoffs | Justin Clark

  Aug 26, 20261h 10m

  We get a lot of questions we can't answer because we're negotiators and not lawyers. So we brought on Justin Clark of JLC Employment Law to answer them. Justin has been a lawyer for over 11 years, spending most of his career in employment law. He started on the defense side representing companies, moved in-house to handle employment litigation at two post-IPO tech companies, got laid off himself, and then started his own firm representing employees against their employers. We covered a ton of topics in this episode: how to think about collecting documentation/evidence, what to include, can you really get blocklisted from working at companies within your industry, what happens during background checks, what do companies ask when they speak to your references, and more. • Why being treated unfairly isn't the same as being treated unlawfully, and exactly what to write in your formal complaint to HR • What "pretextual layoff" means, and how someone used this concept to massively increase their severance package • Which documents you can keep when leaving a job, and which ones could bite you down the road • How background checks work, what they cover, and why companies rely on criminal background checks versus civil background checks • Sign-on bonus clawbacks, revocation periods, and what happens once you've signed * Disclaimer: Justin is a lawyer, but he's not your lawyer, and he's barred in California. Nothing in this episode is official legal advice. Connect with Justin Clark: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-clark-0546069 • His website: https://www.jlcemploymentlaw.com For more: • Book free consultation call with Alex: https://calendly.com/alexhapki/call • Get our free negotiation worksheet: https://www.yournegotiations.com • Read our weekly newsletter: https://yournegotiations.kit.com • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yournegotiations • Gerta's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gertamalaj • Alex's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhapki

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  Gentle Power

  65. She made herself sales director at 17 | Annija Eizenarma

  Aug 7, 20261h 9m

  Annija Eizenarma started her first business at 15 at a small school in the Latvian countryside, met her business partner at 17, and spent the next six years building a smart home company that she sold to one of Europe's leading manufacturers in the building automation system industry. Still hungry after the exit, she moved to San Francisco to find her next move. Every step of Annija’s career was negotiated. Nobody showed up with a golden opportunity, so she asked for each one, usually before she had the credentials to justify asking. How she negotiated her way into her first rooms in high school, by walking up to a visiting lecturer and offering to work for free Why getting the seat is only half the job, and what happens to people who don’t advocate for their work once they're in the role The free third party audit that turned "we already have a subcontractor" into a signed build contract What to offer when you hear a no, and how it can hand you an edge on the next opportunity Her hot take on who decided that asking for what you want is masculine Connect with Annija Eizenarma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annijaeizenarma For more: Book free consultation call with Alex: https://calendly.com/alexhapki/call Get our free negotiation worksheet: https://www.yournegotiations.com Read our weekly newsletter: https://yournegotiations.kit.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yournegotiations Gerta's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gertamalaj Alex's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhapki

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  Gentle Power

  64. Where lies your power as a career switcher? | Soumya Maya

  Jul 21, 202633 min

  Most people think negotiation starts when the offer lands. Our guest, Soumya Maya, makes the case that for anyone changing careers, it starts far earlier, back when you decide to switch and begin figuring out your story. Soumya began her career in architecture, spent about a decade exploring different fields, and moved into product management at edtech startups before leaving to build an AI tool for career changers. She also coaches people through their career pivots. In this episode, we get into why career changers give away leverage they don't realize they have and what to do about it. Our conversation runs from the inner work of knowing your own worth to the practical mechanics of asking, reading the other side, and how to stay engaged and unrattled after hearing the first no. Why your negotiation really starts on day zero, not at the offer The reason career changers underrate their power, and how cultural conditioning impacts their thing Finding leverage when a new field treats your experience as a disadvantage Why the first no is rarely a real no Asking more than once, and why a rescinded offer might be a gift Connect with Soumya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumyamaya For more: Book free consultation call with Alex: https://calendly.com/alexhapki/call Get our free negotiation worksheet: https://www.yournegotiations.com Read our weekly newsletter: https://yournegotiations.kit.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yournegotiations Gerta's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gertamalaj Alex's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhapki

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