Kwame Christian leverages his expertise to inspire and equip professionals with the tools to succeed.

Christian’s journey can be traced back to Tiffin, OH, where he was raised as a first-generation Caribbean American, often standing out as the only Black student in his classes. A defining moment in sixth grade shaped his path: being rejected and ostracized by peers on the playground. This experience ignited a deep desire for connection and acceptance. By high school, he channeled that drive into leadership, rising to become the captain of both the basketball and tennis teams.

Reflecting on his journey in an interview with AFROTECH™, Christian admitted he adopted a “people pleaser” mentality, often prioritizing others’ approval over his authentic self.

“I wasn’t my authentic self in many ways,” he said. “I still had really great connections, but when it came to difficult situations and difficult conversations, I would always agree, even if I disagreed, I wouldn’t speak up if I didn’t like something or like the way I was treated; I would just go with the flow. Nobody ever knew there was a problem. But I recognized that when I was talking to my mentor in college. He let me know that there’s a big difference between being liked and being respected.”

American Negotiation Institute

Christian honed his confidence and conflict-resolution skills at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, where a pivotal negotiation class laid the foundation for his expertise. The course, coupled with victories in negotiation competitions, not only empowered him personally but also laid the groundwork for his career as a business lawyer and drove his efforts as the founder of the American Negotiation Institute.

“Every time I had a tough conversation, whether in a competition or otherwise, and I used the skills, it was a vote of confidence for the man I ultimately wanted to become. But more so than that, I recognize that if I felt this way, other people felt this way too. There are other people out there who are living limited lives because they’re not willing to step up and have tough conversations. So that’s what drove me to build the American Negotiation Institute because the best things in life are on the other side of difficult conversations. And I exist to help make those difficult conversations easier,” Christian expressed.

The American Negotiation Institute, established in May 2016, is a media platform that offers a variety of services that include virtual and in-person workshops, executive coaching and consulting, and keynotes on subjects such as leadership, conflict resolution, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, according to its website.

Its offerings stem from Christian’s belief that unresolved conflict threatens humanity.

“When you think about every other challenge that we have, whether it’s geopolitical, whether it’s with climate change, social justice, whatever it happens to be, there are difficult conversations that need to happen in order for us to make any type of progress in that,” he mentioned. “As we progress technologically, I feel like we are devolving as it relates to our ability to communicate and address these core issues. And so, for me, that is my singular issue. I want to help the world have higher-level conversations so we can solve problems, fix relationships, fix communities, societies, and things like that. So I knew that law wasn’t gonna get me where I wanted to go, so I recognized I had to build something.”

Apple,  Google, NASA, Uber, Target, The Coca-Cola Company, and Chase Bank have utilized the services of the American Negotiation Institute.

It also works with LinkedIn, which is both a client and a partner. LinkedIn distributes the podcast “Negotiate Anything,” which has been downloaded over 10 million times and accessed in more than 180 countries.

Their work with the platform has also led to the creation of the Negotiation Professional Certificate, which at least 10,000 people have completed. Christian adds that it is on track to become the leading certifying body for negotiators globally in the coming years.

Moreover, the partnership’s reach has led to 47 LinkedIn Learning courses, reaching 1.2 million users.

“We’ve created learning paths with not only my courses but some other experts in the industry’s courses. So you can get a diversified understanding of negotiation and then a really robust examination in the end. So this was a massive undertaking for the whole staff here at the American Negotiation Institute, and partnering with them for something like this was significant,” he expressed.

As the new year nears, Christian says new courses and scalable solutions are in the works.