1. The powerful aim high.

Powerful negotiators are known for setting ambitious goals and persisting at these goals despite any obstacles. In one study, Galinsky and his colleagues found that participants who felt powerful performed better on high-level tasks such as goal-setting and planning than those who felt less powerful. Perhaps feeling their decisions were under close scrutiny, those primed to feel less powerful were more easily distracted by unimportant details. These findings suggest that powerful counterparts may be more tenacious and skilled at pursuing and staying focused on their negotiation goals than less-powerful parties are.

2. The powerful think they're in control.

Past research suggests that those with power - including the wealthy, the well-educated and majority groups - tend to experience greater optimism and self-esteem than others. These characteristics result from a heightened sense of control over situations, according to a recent study led by Stanford University's Nathanael J. Fast.

Power appears to increase our belief that we can dictate our outcomes, even when we actually have little control. In Fast's study, for example, relative to other participants, those who were primed to feel powerful were more likely to choose to roll a die themselves - with the prospect of winning $5 - rather than letting an experimenter roll it. Of course, high-power participants had no greater control over the die than the experimenter did, but their preference suggests that they felt they did. When negotiators bring such illusions of control to the bargaining table, they may be under-prepared, overconfident, and prone to risky moves.

3. The powerful may lack empathy.

In a set of experiments, Galinsky and colleagues discovered that relative to other participants, those primed to feel powerful were less likely to take others' perspectives into account. The powerful were also less likely to correctly interpret the intent behind others' messages and to read others' emotional expressions. The researchers concluded that people experiencing power - however temporarily - tend to be self-oriented and, consequently, to suffer from an empathy gap.

Overall, the outside world has less influence over the powerful than the less powerful, according to findings from a related set of studies. Because a high-power negotiator may believe he isn't as dependent on you as you are on him, he may be unaffected by any emotions you display. A powerful negotiator might also underestimate, stereotype or objectify you, viewing you only as a means to an end. But this self-focus also has benefits, as it improves a negotiator's ability to generate creative ideas and reduces conformity to others' opinions.

INCREASE YOUR OWN POWER
These insights about the powerful can help guide your negotiations. Keeping in mind that every negotiator is different, here are five suggestions that might improve your bargaining position:

1. Focus on their goals. The typical powerful negotiator may have a tendency to overlook your perspective, your interests and other important factors. Yet there is one situational factor to which the powerful closely attend, according to Galinsky and his colleagues: their own goals. This suggests that a powerful party should be receptive to interests of yours that would facilitate her goals.
2. Let them argue your position. Because powerful parties often resist standard persuasion techniques, negotiators must find subtle ways to influence them. One secret, according to Galinsky and his team, is to find a way for a powerful counterpart to take ownership of your good ideas - without directly asking her to do so. Because the powerful tend to be vocal, for them, "saying is believing," write Galinsky and colleagues.
3. Get them to join your group. When putting together a negotiation team, consider inviting a powerful individual in your organization to join you. Not only might she have special access to important parties on both sides, but she may contribute especially innovative ideas to the discussion. Her independent spirit may also serve as a critical voice that guards against groupthink.
4. Make them responsible for you. The powerful may be poor at taking others' perspectives, but that handicap falls away when they feel responsible for others. In this case, powerful parties tend to become generous and more capable of seeing people as individuals, write Galinsky and his colleagues.
5. Increase their accountability. Putting pressure on the powerful to justify their decisions may encourage them to look at others' perspectives, research by Philip Tetlock of the University of California at Berkeley suggests.