Some visits draw attention because of the ceremony. the flags, the choreography, the carefully timed smiles. But behind the optics, there is often a deeper story. A story not of power, not of dominance, not of “who presses harder,” but of something far more decisive: interests.
Interests. Those subtle, subterranean currents that move the real world – were the driving force behind Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House. And they are the same force that shapes negotiations long before anyone sits down at the table.
The visit revealed something leaders tend to forget: Modern negotiation is written long before the notebook opens, and it is written in the language of mutual interest, not pressure.
Not “What do I want”?, but a deeper question:
“What do I represent for the other side, without saying a word”?
And that is precisely what unfolded in Washington. While the cameras focused on handshakes, the real narrative was already clear: Saudi Arabia has become a player without whom the regional and global future cannot be managed; not because of aggressive posturing, but because everyone’s interests now naturally intersect with it.
This visit was not built on dominance. It was built on interdependence. Not in the threatening sense of “you have no choice,” but in the strategic sense of “it is in our shared interest to be aligned.”
This is one of the deepest truths in negotiation: When interests align, persuasion becomes irrelevant. The other side arrives wanting the meeting to succeed – not as a favor, but because success serves them as much as it serves you.
In this sense, bin Salman hardly needed to say much. Reality carried the message for him. Saudi Arabia’s rise as a central player in energy, technology, global investment, and regional stability created a landscape in which both parties had a clear incentive to collaborate, and to avoid unnecessary confrontation.
For executives, this is a powerful lesson: Successful negotiation is not when the other side says “yes” because you convinced them – but because they understand your proposal is the best way to achieve their own goals.
The Interests on the Table. On Both Sides
A deeper look at the White House meeting reveals exactly that dynamic. Both sides arrived with different priorities and yet one overriding shared interest: stability.
Regional stability, economic stability, market stability, energy security, long-term partnerships.
On the American side, there was also a very clear economic layer: the president needs wins that translate into capital – political and financial. Foreign investment, growing markets, and big, headline-ready projects make for valuable achievements. And partnership with Saudi Arabia offers all of that.
And bin Salman? He did not arrive empty-handed, nor as a passive partner.
His interests were explicit: advanced fighter jets, technological cooperation, defense frameworks, and long-term strategic alignment that strengthens the kingdom’s regional posture.
This is the real insight: When interests align, “power” stops being the center of negotiation. And when power is no longer the battleground, long-term agreements become easier to form and harder to break.
Instead of asking “Who leads״?, the real question becomes: “What does each side truly need”?
Interests Are Not Weakness, they Are Fuel
In business, leaders often avoid discussing their interests, fearing it will expose vulnerability. But interests are not weakness. They are the engine.
They create real partnerships, anchor long-term agreements, and serve as the bridge through complexity.
Bin Salman did not arrive in Washington wearing armor. He arrived with a portfolio of interests: economic, political, technological, regional, and yes, personal. That is what created the alignment, not the ceremony.
The real negotiation happened outside the room – in the space where interests move freely, before they become a signed document. And when interests are aligned in advance, the meeting itself is not a battlefield. It is a convergence.
How Leaders Apply This in Everyday Negotiation
This raises a practical question many leaders ask: How do we translate interest-driven negotiation into real conversations with real people, real pressure, real KPIs?
The answer begins well before the first meeting.
Interests are not born in the room. They form in the ecosystem around it.
In business, this is seen in small, subtle signals: when the other side understands what they stand to gain from you that they cannot gain anywhere else.
Not necessarily a new market, not a massive investment. Often it’s something far simpler: certainty, your reputation, reduced risk, fewer headaches, managerial peace of mind.
When you create this understanding delicately, without pushing or demanding, something shifts. The other side stops seeing you as someone who asks for something and starts seeing you as someone who enables something. And that is where interests begin to align.
This requires deep listening. Not to the words, but to the underlying problem they are trying to solve.
“Your price is too high” is almost never about price.
It is about internal pressure, fear of failure, risk management, or the need to show a win.
When you understand the hidden interest, the entire system softens. Resistance becomes a doorway into partnership. And partnerships built on aligned interests, not on power struggles, last longer and feel collaborative rather than adversarial.
The Human Layer: Understanding the Person Behind the Position
There is another dimension, often overlooked but essential: personal understanding. Just as in diplomacy, in business the interest is never only the company’s interest. It is the person’s interest who represents the company.
The White House visit illustrated this clearly.
Those who understand Trump know that spreadsheets and formal arguments do not move him.
What moves him is money, big real-estate-style successes, dealmaking he can claim as his own, and actions he can frame as transformative. These are not “power moves”, they are personal interests.
And when you understand what truly motivates the other side, you no longer need to guess.
You can speak directly in the language of their interests – not the language you wish they had.
In business, the same rule applies:
When a leader understands the human being across the table: what pressures him, what excites him, what future story he wants to tell, half the negotiation is already solved. Not because you manipulate it, but because you remove fear and create clarity.
When people feel understood: not their numbers, not their title, but themselves – something profound happens: The conversation opens. Defense mechanisms drop. Interests surface on their own.
And now the negotiation is no longer two sides pushing.
It is two people moving, naturally, toward the same point.
The Real Lesson From Washington
This is the fundamental insight business leaders must internalize: What made bin Salman’s strategy so effective was not muscle. It was not political theater. It was not raw power.
It was something much more precise: the ability to understand the other side’s interests, deeply and early, and shape the landscape accordingly.
Bin Salman entered the White House knowing exactly what moves Trump, what he values, what he wants to claim, and what narrative he wants to project. And he crafted the visit so that both sides’ interests aligned before a single word was spoken.
That is the model leaders must adopt: Do not wait for the meeting to discover what matters. Shape the alignment before the meeting even begins.
Negotiation based on pre-aligned interests succeeds not because of what is said in the room, but because of what was built around it.
And as bin Salman demonstrated: When interests align, doors open. And once the doors open – almost anything becomes possible.
Yael Chayu is a global business negotiation expert, keynote speaker, and strategic advisor to executives across industries. She is a doctoral researcher in Behavioral Economics at Reichman University, where she also serves as Academic Director of the Business Negotiation Program at FORE Executive Education.
Forbes Israel Contributors are independent writers selected by the Forbes editorial team, experts in their fields, providing current commentary and reviews in their area of expertise. The content is their own and under their responsibility and is not sponsored content.
