In the high-stakes world of litigation and corporate transactions, negotiation is often viewed as a win-or-lose battle. But as in-house leaders stressed during a recent panel at the Women, Influence & Power in Law Conference in Chicago, most things in life involve negotiation, and success often goes beyond immediate victories. And women, they observed, are uniquely suited to playing the long game.

Trisha Ananiades calls it her "unheard of superpower." A senior vice president of business and legal affairs for BBC Studios, Ananiades negotiates deals and drafts agreements for programming for the BBC's main commercial and production arm.