Book Report - Getting to Yes

Negotiating Agreements Without Giving In, 2nd Edition

by Roger Fisher and William Ury and Bruce Patton of the Harvard Negotiation Project (for the 2nd edition)

This book was an interesting read, providing a number of great insights on negotiating situations in life – whether for business, personal, political or otherwise. The opening sentences set the scene perfectly: “Like it or not, you are a negotiator. Negotiation is a fact of life.”

What I enjoyed most about the book is that it provides a valuable framework for engaging in honest, fair and objective negotiations with other individuals. It stresses the importance of looking at negotiations as a series of logical communications between one human being and another. Many of the traditional (read: less effective) methods of negotiation are discussed (with examples), such as “Good cop. Bad cop.” Any idea how to react when on the receiving end of this type of negotiation?

A few of the other great concepts introduced include:

• Don’t’ bargain over positions. This is traditional bargaining – a series of give and take activities which eventually finds one party left wanting.
• Separate people from the problem. Many times we find ourselves in undesirable situations – keep in mind the other party may very well be in that situation. Focus on the problem and seek solutions, don’t attack the individual.
• Insist on using objective criteria. Too often we get caught up in emotions or prejudice, which blinds us from reaching a solution both parties could ultimately be satisfied with.
• Don’t play along with dirty tricks. The book covers a great example of “Jack Donnegy”-style (30 Rock) negotiation where you put the other party with their back to the door, in a short chair, with the heat turned way up. In this situation, the best thing to do is identify the situation to the other party, let them know you’d be happy to carry on the discussion once the environmental situation has been addressed.
• Always know your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). In every negotiation, there is the potential for no agreement being reached (for any number of reasons). One way to gain an advantage is having the peace of mind that you have an alternative to reaching an agreement. For example, having and communicating a good alternative can strengthen your bargaining position. Alternatively, if your BATNA is weak you may be better off to hide it. Regardless, you should identify and be prepared to leverage an alternative in any negotiating situation.

This book provided a lot of good examples on how negotiation plays a key role in many day-to-day situations. As I was reading it, I could think of many, many situations where this framework could be applied. The best part about the book is that it focuses not on gaining an unfair advantage, but rather reaching a logical and fair conclusion to any situation. It will likely save you some trial and error in future negotiations, so for that reason I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking to be able to better communicate and reach amicable solutions with the people around them (hopefully, that’s everyone!).