What is Expanding the Pie?

The term expanding the pie comes from the world of negotiation. The concept invites creative deal-making as a means to achieve abundance instead of scarcity between two parties. 

Imagine a pizza to be shared by a group of people. No matter how many slices you cut, there’s only so much pizza to go around. With the abundance afforded by “expanding the pie,” you don’t have to divide the same volume of pizza. Rather, if you could grow the circumference of the pizza, there would be more pizza to give. 

What does “expanding the pie” look like in real-life deal-making? 

Several years back I was teaching a seminar in New Zealand. The owner of the business that was hosting me allowed me to stay in a spare room in his home for a few days. While staying with him, I took him and his girlfriend to an unforgettable Michelin-starred restaurant. When I offered to treat them, they vehemently refused. 

“That’s way too much,” they retorted. 

I explained my logic. In exchange for offering the mild inconvenience of sharing their spare room with me, I said much more money than the cost of the dinner. The dinner is likely an expense they never would have chosen to incur on their own and so we all walked away with unique value. 

It was an experience we’d never forget. The entire restaurant had just eight chairs and at one point the chef brought out the entire Kobe beef cow and presented it on the counter on which we ate! 

What’s the fixed pie alternative? I spend more money than I did on dinner to stay at a hotel while the bed stays made in their spare room. Then, I make him pay full price for the seminar in his own business and we all get separate bills at a local chain restaurant? 

Life’s too short for fixed-pie deal-making. Expand the pie!