Your Human Skills Are Your Negotiating Edge

When I left the security of an organizational role to bet on myself full time, I learned fast that every part of my business was negotiable. My fees. My positioning. My clients. My partnerships. Nobody was handing me a salary band. I had to ask.

So, when I read Columbia Law Professor Alexandra Carter’s piece for Chief, In the Age of AI, Women Have a Negotiating Edge, I said YES out loud.

Carter hears the same question I hear from the senior women I coach: What happens to my value when AI can do more of my work? Her answer is a reframe I love. Stop asking what AI takes away. Start asking what becomes more valuable because of it.

Your Human Skills Are Appreciating Assets

Carter points to Chief’s research with The Harris Poll, a survey of more than 1,000 senior women leaders. Eighty-six percent said their human skills make them more valuable in this moment. And 85% believe organizations that invest in both AI and people will outperform those betting on technology alone.

I’m with them. AI can summarize a 100-page report in seconds. It can’t decide which problem is worth solving, who to trust, or how a decision will land with your people three years from now. That’s judgment. That’s leadership. And it’s yours.

You Don’t Have to Negotiate Like Someone Else

Here’s the part that stopped me. Carter cites a 2026 study of more than 2,400 participants who reported better experiences negotiating with women: more trust, more fairness, and more desire to work together again. Women earned those relational wins without giving up results. Men and women achieved comparable economic outcomes.

For years, women were coached to be more aggressive, to sound more like the stereotypical guy across the table. This research points the other way. Listening for interests, building trust, and advocating for others are strategic and economic assets. Full stop.

Women can be especially effective when negotiating on behalf of others. Try this small reframe. When you ask for that raise or that budget, you are also negotiating for your team, your clients, and the women coming up behind you.

Build Your Spotlight Network

Carter describes a “spotlight network,” a circle of women who lift one another up. Your network is your best source of intel on what peers earn, which roles are expanding, and which opportunities never get posted. These are the people speaking your name in rooms you haven’t entered yet.

Think of it as your personal board of directors in action. Mentors give advice. Sponsors put your name forward. A spotlight network does both, and it works in every direction.

Disruption Makes Things Negotiable

Let’s be honest. Women still hold only 29% of C-suite roles, according to McKinsey and LeanIn.Org. Systems matter. Sponsors matter. But Carter makes a point I want you to hold onto – moments of disruption are moments when things become negotiable. How your contribution gets measured. What you charge. Who gets to lead.

Chief’s research found that 80% of senior women are already active strategic players in their organization’s AI efforts. You are not on the sidelines.

It’s time to negotiate like it.

Pro Tips

• Name your human value in your next performance conversation: judgment, trust, and context.
• Gather intel before you ask by talking with three people in your network about comparable roles or fees.
• Frame your ask around the people you represent, not only yourself.
• Spotlight someone else this week by putting her name forward for an opportunity.

You have the power to claim this moment. Enjoy your career AND love your life!