Is lying in a business negotiation ever justified? Should you disclose your reservation price? And where does smart dealmaking end and dishonesty begin?

You can negotiate hard, protect your position, and still act with integrity. But most people in business have never been told how.

Charles Sherwood spent 30 years as a Founding Partner at Permira, one of Europe's leading private equity firms, sitting across the table from some of the most experienced dealmakers in the world. He has a view on all of it. This is not the conversation you expect.

Charles argues that ordinary morality does not stop at the boardroom door — that the same rules which govern honesty in everyday life apply just as fully in a business negotiation. That the invisible hand of the market is no excuse for dishonesty. That loyalty penalties in insurance and banking are a form of exploitation. And that the most underused phrase in business negotiation is simply: "I'm not willing to disclose that at this point."

Along the way he draws on 30 years of deals, boardrooms, and hard-won experience to test where ordinary morality applies in business — and where people wrongly assume it doesn't.

Charles is a Founder Partner of the private equity firm Permira, and the author of A Fair Bargain: The Ethics of Negotiation, published by LSE Press.

➡️ A Fair Bargain: The Ethics of Negotiation: https://press.lse.ac.uk/books/m/10.31389/lsepress.afb

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