Carol Frohlinger ’75
Uncommon Stories
Carol Frohlinger ’75: Taking Her Place at the
Negotiating Table
“The sense of true satisfaction,” says Carol
Frohlinger ’75, “is not always the work you do
but the way you do it.” Frohlinger is the
author of Her Place at the Table: A Woman’s Guide to
Negotiating Five Key Challenges to Leadership Success (with
co-authors Deborah M. Kolb and Judith Williams, published
by Jossey-Bass/John Wiley, 2004).
Having studied the art of negotiation for years—particularly in the lives of women—Frohlinger has come to understand how to negotiate well, not only in the boardroom but also in the living room.
“Negotiation,” she explains, “is any time that you have to reach agreement with someone else. Most of the time, however, people think very narrowly of negotiation. The ‘big N’ negotiations include buying a house or discussing a salary increase. But contrast these with the “little n” negotiations that we don’t think of as negotiations. Where are we going to dinner tonight? Which movie should we see? Who should lead the project? We often don’t prepare for these encounters and don’t pay enough attention to them as negotiations—but these are the conversations that drive satisfaction in the workplace and personally.”
Frohlinger was an English major at the Mount when the college was an all-women’s school. “The relationships and friendships that I made at Mount Saint Vincent,” she explains, “really did put me on the path to reflecting on how women are seen in the larger world.” After graduation, Frohlinger began working in the financial services industry, training others to negotiate. “I acquired a practitioner’s point of view,” she says. “While I was working as an executive coach for men and women, the question of how gender impacts business began to fascinate me.”
Frohlinger went on to earn a law degree from Fordham Law School, and then formed Negotiating Women, Inc., which describes itself as “a company of women committed to help other women recognize that performance doesn’t speak for itself.”
Frohlinger and her business partner Deborah M. Kolb, PhD, offer “live training, online courses and consulting” to such companies as Accenture, CIT Group, Inc., Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and White & Case, LLP, among others. Frohlinger has also coached women executives in the areas of banking, law, consulting, public accounting and pharmaceuticals. Recently Frohlinger spoke about gender gap in pay and personal negotiation at SUNY Stonybrook, with Senator Clinton and 1000 undergraduates in the audience.
While public speaking and consulting are mainstays of Frohlinger’s business, developing e-learning courses is an increasingly important aspect of the company. “We’re attracting people from all over the world,” Frohlinger explains. “Busy people can take these courses at a time that’s convenient for them.”
Because of the changing demographics in the workplace, “it’s a ripe time” for training in negotiation. “There is a war for talent,” Frohlinger explains, “with 76 million people retiring and only 43 million coming up into the ranks. People are going to have a lot more leverage to negotiate.”
Her next book project? “I’d like to write about women negotiating with other women in the workplace and personally,” she explains. “That’s an area I have a lot of interest in.” No doubt many women have joined Frohlinger at the table, with many more to come.
Having studied the art of negotiation for years—particularly in the lives of women—Frohlinger has come to understand how to negotiate well, not only in the boardroom but also in the living room.
“Negotiation,” she explains, “is any time that you have to reach agreement with someone else. Most of the time, however, people think very narrowly of negotiation. The ‘big N’ negotiations include buying a house or discussing a salary increase. But contrast these with the “little n” negotiations that we don’t think of as negotiations. Where are we going to dinner tonight? Which movie should we see? Who should lead the project? We often don’t prepare for these encounters and don’t pay enough attention to them as negotiations—but these are the conversations that drive satisfaction in the workplace and personally.”
Frohlinger was an English major at the Mount when the college was an all-women’s school. “The relationships and friendships that I made at Mount Saint Vincent,” she explains, “really did put me on the path to reflecting on how women are seen in the larger world.” After graduation, Frohlinger began working in the financial services industry, training others to negotiate. “I acquired a practitioner’s point of view,” she says. “While I was working as an executive coach for men and women, the question of how gender impacts business began to fascinate me.”
Frohlinger went on to earn a law degree from Fordham Law School, and then formed Negotiating Women, Inc., which describes itself as “a company of women committed to help other women recognize that performance doesn’t speak for itself.”
Frohlinger and her business partner Deborah M. Kolb, PhD, offer “live training, online courses and consulting” to such companies as Accenture, CIT Group, Inc., Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and White & Case, LLP, among others. Frohlinger has also coached women executives in the areas of banking, law, consulting, public accounting and pharmaceuticals. Recently Frohlinger spoke about gender gap in pay and personal negotiation at SUNY Stonybrook, with Senator Clinton and 1000 undergraduates in the audience.
While public speaking and consulting are mainstays of Frohlinger’s business, developing e-learning courses is an increasingly important aspect of the company. “We’re attracting people from all over the world,” Frohlinger explains. “Busy people can take these courses at a time that’s convenient for them.”
Because of the changing demographics in the workplace, “it’s a ripe time” for training in negotiation. “There is a war for talent,” Frohlinger explains, “with 76 million people retiring and only 43 million coming up into the ranks. People are going to have a lot more leverage to negotiate.”
Her next book project? “I’d like to write about women negotiating with other women in the workplace and personally,” she explains. “That’s an area I have a lot of interest in.” No doubt many women have joined Frohlinger at the table, with many more to come.
