exclusive content published on June 14, 2006
Tech-oriented people tend to horde reference manuals and hang out in the
computer section of the local book store. We rarely wander over to the
business section where the MBA and entrepreneur hopefuls linger. But one
business book stands above all others and is worth the small investment
in time for geeks of any stripe.
Non Disclaimer
I have no financial or other relationship to any of the publishers or
authors of this book.
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, Bruce Patton (2nd edition)
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0140157352
224 pages
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Everything is Negotiable
That business book is Getting to Yes. The full title is
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, though a new
edition was released in 2003 with the title Getting to Yes: The Secret
to Successful Negotiation.
Getting to Yes describes the results of the Harvard Negotiation Project,
a research project at Harvard University that studies conflict
resolution. The ivory tower types really did something great [this time].
The opening line in the introduction is "Like it or not, you are a
negotiator." It is something you do every day of your life and it
affects not only your job and salary, but your relationships and
anything that involves human interaction. This book can help anyone
regardless of vocation, even those that don't work in the traditional
business world. Finally, since the topic is timeless, what you learn
won't lose value over time.
A better approach
If you are anything like me, you are more comfortable dealing with
machines than people. Anything that has conflict built into it,
like negotiation, doesn't come naturally.
A common misconception, one I had to overcome, is that negotiation is a
zero sum game and the goal is to take advantage of the other party.
This strategy generally leads to poor results. Approaching negotiations
with a win-win outcome in mind and trying to understand the needs of the
other party can make a huge difference. It diffuses what might
otherwise be a tense situation.
The method suggested by the book is called "principled negotiation"
which avoids both hard and soft positional bargaining. In fact,
negotiating for a position is discouraged since it takes the focus off
the facts. Principled negotiation uses four key elements to guide
the process:
- separate the people from the problem
- focus on interests, not positions
- invent options for mutual gain
- insist on using objective criteria
Case Studies
Many case studies are presented along with tactics to help break through
thorny issues. Each case is dissected and explained in terms of a
diagnosis and prescription for coping with it.
For example, it discusses how to handle emotional outbursts and people
that are openly hostile. It also covers options when there is a large
power imbalance between the two sides.
Reality check
This book completely rewired the way I think about negotiation.
The writing is clear and the principles are backed by
years of hard experience. The authors state there is nothing in the
book "which you did not already know at some level of your experience".
From my experience, the material presented and some non-obvious
techniques take it far beyond common sense.
This book is not full of feel good, fad-of-the-moment rhetoric. The
authors recognize there are situations where a wise agreement cannot be
reached, despite honest efforts on both sides. In those cases,
searching for the "Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement" or BATNA
is recommended. Recognizing those situations can save
everyone a lot of headaches and wasted time.
Successful negotiation is hard. Learning about it and practicing
principled negotiation will improve your results, and your life. I
try to read this book every few years as a refresher. If you only read
one business book in your career, I recommend this one.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
