André Bello is a storyteller. He transforms technical details into simple lessons that can help you change your life. This passion for the uncomplicated inspired his negotiation tale, The Sword & the Spirit—a fable written to teach the skills he learned at the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School. Professor Lawrence Susskind of the PON says of The Sword & the Spirit:

". . . illustrates more clearly what we mean by a 'mutual-gains approach to negotiation' than one hundred repetitions of the theory could accomplish on their own."

His follow up book, Give more, Get more! Negotiate your way to a richer life, draws more deeply on André's personal stories from his experience as a medical representative, advertising director and the industry where he spent the last of his executive management days—financial services. These experiences, together with André's unique storytelling style, are the backbone of the wildly popular seminars and workshops he has delivered in his homeland Jamaica and aboard.

Initially a natural scientist, André developed a passion for negotiation theory while completing his MBA. His marketing foundation was deeply grounded in sales as a medical representative for Novartis. In his opinion, there is no substitute for a sales background to truly develop an appreciation for the role of relationships in business. His career path then took him towards advertising at Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi, where after only a few months, he played an integral role in winning several new accounts and was made Account Director for PepsiCo International. Based on his success at Lonsdale, one of his key Clients invited him to create a new marketing department for their group of financial companies.

As General Manager of Marketing for the Maritime Financial Group, André worked on the development of client-centric strategies for insurance and investment products. He focused on brand building and lead-generation activities to support personal selling by field agents, and implemented several initiatives that offered value-added benefits to insurance holders. He then migrated to Jamaica, with his wife Frances, to accept the challenge of repositioning an international investment brokerage company, Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) from its product-centric orientation to a more relationship-centric model. This comprehensive program involved a total re-engineering of JMMB’s corporate communications and brand identity, as well as the development of response-based direct marketing tactics. His portfolio also included Sales, New Product Development and Channel Management, and he served as part of the executive team responsible for crafting the strategic direction of the organisation. As a newcomer to the Jamaican business community, André ensured he was properly introduced by founding the organization Boom Networking, an innovative networking fraternity for Caribbean business professionals.

André has recently retired from his executive management position with JMMB, to pursue a full-time consultancy career, specialising in creating client-centric corporate transformations. His focus is mainly in negotiation skills and consultative selling. In addition, he represents professional development programs from the Service Quality Institute, a global leader in customer service. He is a popular speaker and corporate trainer, and delivers in-house seminars for Caribbean companies. In November 2005, he was invited to Paris to present his paper,"The Muscles of Imagination: The Role of Storytelling in Negotiation Training". This international conference on "New Trends in Negotiation Training" was held by Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation and ESSEC's Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation in Europe, and attracted some of the leading thinkers in the field. André is quickly gaining a reputation as an international speaker in the field of negotiation. He is also focused on helping companies to connect with their clients through a new understanding of sales and customer service.