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Aug 04, 2008

Bob rated it:

“Getting to Yes” is the benchmark by which all other books on negotiating should be judged. Authors Fisher, Patton and Ury have penned a book that has become a classic in its class as their negotiating principles have been used and quoted again and again the world over.

“Getting to Yes” is quite deceptive at first – it seems a little light weight as it is so easy to read. In fact one could read it from cover to cover in half a day quite easily. Yet, the four principles outlined in More...

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Jan 11, 2008

Dan rated it:

I’ve known high ranking executives whose concept of negotiation contains a good measure of intimidation. They view negotiating much like sumo wrestling—the last man standing in the ring wins, and winning is largely a matter of using one’s weight and muscle to dominate. They need this book.

Fisher and Ury provide a structure and a rationale that can improve the reader’s negotiations and make them more pleasant and productive at the same time. The pleasantness comes from the respect the More...

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Dec 31, 2011

Tamara rated it:

Eye-opening. Now, how do I rewrite all of my bad habits to take advantage of the knowledge in this book...?

Could help provide a foundation for the upcoming website redesign discussions.

Favorite Tips

Separate the people from the problem.
Focus on interests, not positions.
Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do.
Insist that the result be based on some objective standard.

Where perceptions are inaccurate, you More...

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Aug 20, 2011

Tania rated it:

This is the first book I've read on the issue of negotiation. The book is easy to read, and the authors use good, solid examples to illustrate the techniques they are teaching. The end of the book, with it's summary review, really pulls it all together. The writing style is clean, clear, and simple, without being so simplistic as to seem unbelieveable.

The authors try to show readers how to remain objective in negotiations, rather than letting their emotions take control. The speak of More...

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Aug 07, 2011

Kenny rated it:

Easy to read. Not the most exciting. But important enough to put on a must read list. I think the entire book is embodied in the example of two men in the library arguing over whether to open/close a window. One opens it and the other one would get upset, stand up and close it. They repeatedly go to the window every few minutes and open/close the window each time getting angrier and angrier. Then they argue about keeping the window open or shut. They hate each other at this point and thinks the More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Grampa rated it:

This book was recommended to me by about a dozen friends, colleagues, and professors before I finally decided to read it. Getting to Yes was a good mix between text book technique and anecdotal evidence in negotiations. It taught me to separate the people from the problem and to strive toward common interests to create a win-win relationship instead of playing a game of positioning for a win-lose scenario. I definitely recommend it to anyone who works for a living, anyone who pays rent or a m More...

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Apr 11, 2011

Sophie rated it:

My brother thrust this into my hand as I was bemoaning the upstairs neighbours who are being aggressive about asking for my consent to do a loft conversion. I was pleased to see that I automatically adopt the stance they suggest (negotiating on principles, not positions, so you seek to come up with options that satisfy the underlying needs of each party, rather than the stated 'solutions' they may already have proposed). What I found really helpful, though, was to read the descriptions of all th More...

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Nov 08, 2010

Debbie rated it:

"Getting to YES" is a book about how to come to mutually-satisfactory agreements with people, from your spouse and kids to your boss at work or even in a hostage situation. The real-life examples tended to be business-related or based on national-level events, but it was easy to see how each principle could be applied in any situation. It was easy to follow his points and see how to apply them.

Quite likely some of their suggestions won't be new to you. Either you did it and d More...

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Sep 05, 2010

Jaclyn rated it:

Reviewing schoolbooks is a hit or miss for me because there are some schoolbooks I would rather not dwell on more than I have to. However, the tenets of negotiation are something worth ruminating out of the academic forum. We all negotiate every day. Some negotiations are trivial – where to eat out, for example, while others carry more weight – those examples vary depending on individual priorities, etc., so I’ll let you decide what negotiations are weightier for you.

While the wri More...

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Jul 02, 2011

Nathan rated it:

Is it obvious? Perhaps, but there are a lot of obvious things in life that must be told to us many times before we understand. Positional negotiation ("$40", "$150!", "$60", "$130", ...) doesn't guarantee an agreement will be reached, let alone a mutually satisfying one. The authors offer principled negotiation as an alternative process: separate out people from their interests, deal to the human factors with preparation and attention, then negotiate on More...

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Jun 22, 2010

Michael rated it:

Very useful book for everyone who negotiates -- particularly good for those who make their living negotiating agreements.

Here are some notes I took:

1. Focus on people, not the problem.
-try to build up the relationship

-try to understand the point of view of the other party -- how they may
feel. What are their worries, fears, concerns, issues?

-ask and restate the other party's position to see if you're understood their concerns (even if More...

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Sep 05, 2010

Leslie rated it:

This is a concise, detailed "how to" on negotiation that is sufficiently flexible to apply to situations of personal conflict as well as business and political conflict. The authors use very straight-forward language and multiple examples from a variety of contexts to illustrate how separating the people from the problem, identifying interests rather than positions, inventing options for mutual gain, and using objective criteria for evaluating the outcome facilitate improved negotiati More...

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Aug 05, 2010

Taka rated it:

Excellent Framework--

The framework of what the authors call "principled negotiation" is pretty much the same as the framework of "crucial conversations." It also meshes well with Dale Carnegie's framework of winning friends and influencing people and to some extent, Manuel J. Smith's Here Be Dragons and Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

It lays out a practical approach to negotiation based on independent standards of fairness. More...

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Oct 06, 2011

Sadhbh rated it:

This is a simple well thought-out book, primarily for negotiators and mediators, yet it teaches life lessons which transcend those specific areas of expertise, into everyday life. It's the kind of book which seems so obvious when you read it, yet if you had been asked to write the same book yourself, you would have been lost for words. It gives plenty of scenarios which one can easily identify with and provides insight into the reactions of the participants and the solutions to the resolution of More...

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Mar 10, 2010

Mjklin rated it:

My take-away from this book is spelled out well by the authors:

* Separate the people from the problem. Be hard on the problem, soft on the people. Don't damage the relationship if you don't have to.
* Focus on interests, not positions. If you are given positions, try to find the interests behind them. This takes research and creativity.
* Brainstorm creative solutions. Use objective criteria to decide among them, based on the interests that will be served. Use your best alt More...

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Apr 16, 2011

David rated it:

Reviewing this just makes me look like a well read intelectual. I mean, if I'm reading this than what other self-improved, hard-hitting, esoteric awesomeness have I read. Well check out my other reviews. Actually I haven't finished this one. It was an old copy to begin with but leaving it in the hot sun inside my car all last summer really screwed up the glue in the binding. Now it's a bunch of loose pages with no cover. What I read was pretty cool. It has some great ideas if you are trying to n More...

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Mar 19, 2010

Triwahyudi rated it:

Basically I would say that this book is normative and common knowledge book that put all the application methods into the theory. However I feel this book is very important as a handy book or guidebook for every negotiator while doing any negotiation. This book put all negotiation principles, techniques, and steps which sometime most negotiators forget to do during the negotiation process. The book is very easy to follow and the best point is we cannot disagree about the entire content of the bo More...

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Oct 27, 2009

Hans rated it:

Good for what it was designed for. Negotiation was something I had to learn growing up in a family of 7 siblings. I was surprised to find that I already regularly employ most of the suggested techniques though they were able to help me better understand them. Overall the book was helpful. I think the main push of the book is 1) separate people from issues 2)Don't limit your options there are always creative ways to compromise and still make a win win situation, if you haven't come up with one More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Adam rated it:

It's a very well written book. Very basic and very generable. I'd say a little too basic for anything more than familial and community negotiating. The authors marginalize feelings too much for any industry-level negotiating, like conflict resolution and mediation. At the same time, the rules, terms, and guidance they put forth are industry standards and would be beneficial for anyone to know. A good book for anyone to read, from business to family to government, everyone can gain from reading t More...

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Jan 21, 2012

Benjamin rated it:

The book is an introduction to what the authors call "principled negotiation". As they point out, the ideas are common sense. They are presented well, though, and the book articulates ideas that are sometimes not simple until formulated correctly. Unfortunately, the last chapter, an addition for the second edition, is awful. The material is extraneous, and the writing frequently slips into sentence after sentence of commands; it took me as long to slog through the last chapter as to re More...

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Jan 07, 2012

Amy rated it:

This is a great book on negotiating respectfully and productively, and is applicable to pursuits from parenting to job hunting, as well as to major international diplomacy if that's your kind of thing. It seems like the kind of book which would be useful to own and refer to over the years as one's experience increases.

I didn't give it a better score because I did find it a little dry at times, and would have liked to have seen more examples and anecdotes. I love an anecdote. The prob More...

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Jun 30, 2009

Alyssa rated it:

I felt like I already knew a lot of the principles in this book (although there were some gems that I hadn't ever thought about). But it's a good reminder for things I already knew but have forgotten to use. I also really liked the way the authors organized the principles into basic steps you can remember and utilize in all kinds of situations. I liked the fact that everything they talked about fell in line with my own set of values/standards.

Also, the information in this book can More...

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Sep 14, 2010

Tim rated it:

I'm a little generous with ratings, I rarely read a book that I don't really want to read, and I've yet to read a book I haven't really enjoyed, in retrospect.

I thought it was fantastic. It was difficult to get through, but the concepts and ideas, as presented, were in my opinion, very useful. I hadn't studied anything on the art of negotiation, and I really like the approach outlined in this book. I can see how negotiation is a very important skill, one that we should use regularly More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Ryan rated it:

It was OK. Like Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation and The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes, these are basically common sense for anyone with management skill and experience. More...

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Jan 03, 2011

William rated it:

This is exactly the type of book I studied Literature to avoid having to read. But it wasn't horrible, and I stored away a few tips for future reference with the thinking that this is the kind of book that becomes most useful in least-expected moments. I enjoyed the narrative examples more than the explanatory text, and kind of wish they'd used the negotiations of political and governmental entities as all their examples, though they are considerably older cases. Those were the parts to which More...

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Aug 16, 2009

Heather rated it:

This is a great book that explains the power of good negotiating and teaches how to focus on principle-centered negotiating. The method includes four main principles: separating the people from the problem, focusing on interests and not positions, inventing options for mutual gain, and insisting on using objective criteria. One key that I learned is that you will end up better off after a negotiation if you have a good BATNA ("best alternative to a negotiated agreement") and know wh More...

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Sep 12, 2008

Myridian rated it:

This book describes the philosophy of principled negotiation. The objective is to get people away from adversarial, positional bargaining. The book was relatively readable and provided good examples of the various techniques. The sections detailing the rules for brainstorming and the recommendations for working with common tricks negotiators use seemed particularly useful. The "Analytical" table of contents in the back is also much more useful than the one up front. The most notab More...

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Jul 05, 2008

nanto rated it:

Buku ini buku bagus, berisikan tips dalam berunding. Ditulis oleh tim dari Harvard University yang banyak bergelut dalam masalah perundingan. Latar belakang mereka yang sarjana hukum membuat persoalan perundingan itu menjadi semakin menarik. Perundingan sendiri masih diandaikan dalam sebuah win-win solution, namun tentunya adalah bagaimana memenangkannya lebih ke pihak perunding dibandingkan lawan.

Sebagus itu isinya, namun pada waktu saya membelinya serasa saya jauh dari tips yang ad More...

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Feb 18, 2009

Erin rated it:

This book just makes sense. Its examples of mostly business and real-estate negotiations were less helpful in the context of the class "Conflict in the Congregation," but it's a fantastic introduction to thinking outside of the box when dealing with conflicts or negotiations, and also to work from interests and not positions. I recommend this book in general for anyone going into a negotiation situation. Really. It's not black and white or win/lose. There are other, less stressful

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Aug 12, 2010

Alex rated it:

As the book says - it is not about discovering something new or giving a predefined set of steps, it's about reflection of your own actions when you are successful in negotiations. It opens up your eyes on the actions taken during successful negotiations. Reading the book allows you to reproduce the successes you have achieved.

It is not a book on how to bargain, trick or have huge gain in short term. The book is about long term relations and contracts to stand the test of time.

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