In fact, the transition is from a "known" to an "unknown." That distinction alerts you to the need to fully explore the new "unknown" relation before making the change. Some attributes of the new position are those you will need to learn: the company direction, the dynamics of the department, the personality of your superior. Those you may discover, but not change. But many attributes of the new position you can affect, and determine: your title, salary, bonus, authorities, equity potential, advancement opportunity, and others. We call them the "3 R's": Reward, Risk, Responsibility, and we discuss them below. This is where we can help: in the consideration, discussion, determination and clarification of the aspects of the job you can affect.

An employment agreement is just that: a summary of points of mutual understanding, preserved for future reference. As "good fences make good neighbors," good, thorough, yet simple employment agreements make for good employment relations. The process of employment agreement negotiation serves to (i) learn more about your new relation, (ii) garner greater career success, and (iii) preserve and advance that success over time.

And employment agreements are not just for CEO's, either. While we do negotiate CEO, CFO, COO, CIO and other "chief" agreements, many, many more AVP's, VP's, managers, professionals and executives are politely yet proactively negotiating their own "contracts" of sorts.

These "contracts" are not, and should not be, long, multi-paged documents, but simple letters, or even memos, setting forth salient points of agreed reward, risk-allocation and responsibilities. Assisting in this process is where we help, as well.

We entitle our Executive Guidebook in this area "Formulation and Negotiation of Employment Agreements" because formulation of ideas, goals, and strategies is the sine qua non of successful negotiation. It is the preparation of the mind that most necessarily precedes the confrontation, or battle.