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24th out of 238 books
—
398 voters
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
This is by far the best thing I've ever read about negotiation. It is equally relevant for the individual who would like to keep his friends, property, and income and the statesman who would like to keep the peace. --John Kenneth Galbraith.
Paperback, Second Edition, 224 pages
Published
December 1st 1991
by Penguin Books
(first published 1981)
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I attended a class on International Negotiations at the Foreign Service Institute this week and we were assigned this book to read for the class. I thought the book was rather straightforward and I liked the anecdotes. Overall, I think it was a good selection for our class and helped to emphasize the points being taught. I doubt I will become a master negotiator, but I do see benefits from this book and class in my personal life.
Some of the lessons I learned in class include the following:
"Peop...more
Some of the lessons I learned in class include the following:
"Peop...more
“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 their negotiat...more
“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 their negotiat...more
Jan 21, 2013
Roberto Suarez
added it
After reading "Getting to Yes", I realized the "bottom line" to negotiation is not the most effective approach to get to what everyone wants and its not to see the negotiation game as a win/lose experience, but a way to develop relationships. Similar to playing frisbee and the relationship of marriage, there are scenarios that have no place for win/lose negotiations because ultimately they will all end with lose/lose results. Individuals should focus, "To be better, the process must, of course,...more
You may negotiate on a day-to-day basis, but you most likely have not sat down and thought about your negotiating methods systematically. This is exactly what the book covers: a systematic breakdown of the negotiation process, based on a technique called "Principled Negotiation".
Principled Negotiation is to focus your negotiation on principles rather than position. You take a position, when you state one solution and choose to stick to it irrespective of the other person's input. As such, you in...more
Principled Negotiation is to focus your negotiation on principles rather than position. You take a position, when you state one solution and choose to stick to it irrespective of the other person's input. As such, you in...more
This book is a very useful and detailed guide to negotiating for mutual gain. It’s a mix of theory, application, and examples. The advice is realistic; it says to be optimistic but aware of your limits. As a freelance web designer (OptimWise), I negotiate in sales and client relations. I’ve seen this book mentioned in magazines like Inc. and Entrepreneur, and a few business and sales books. I finally decided to read it when it was recommended on This Week in Web Design.
Main ideas
• Understand em...more
Main ideas
• Understand em...more
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 can look for ways to educate. If emotions run high, you can find w...more
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 can look for ways to educate. If emotions run high, you can find w...more
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 being "soft...more
The authors try to show readers how to remain objective in negotiations, rather than letting their emotions take control. The speak of being "soft...more
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
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 mort...more
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
"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 didn't know why it wo...more
Quite likely some of their suggestions won't be new to you. Either you did it and didn't know why it wo...more
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 writing bogged dow...more
While the writing bogged dow...more
I read this after my boss sent me a copy indicating that the strategies contained within the book were quite valuable. I was aware that the book existed and of the concept of soft positional bargaining so I thought I'd check it out. What a load of crap. The book might be useful for politicians or other criminal enterprises but their examples of people engaging in soft positional bargaining didn't even sound like human beings but more like robots on Prozac. On top of that there were strong intone...more
"Getting to Yes" is quite possibly one of the best negotiation books you will ever read. First published in 1981, the authors founded the first Negotiation Program at Harvard Law School and have been successfully teaching their negotiation technique globally. I enrolled in a one-day course at my company. The course teaches the fundamentals of the book. It was an excellent class taught by two lawyers. The instructors talked about Roger Fisher as the most prominent author of this book; he is well...more
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 the interests (what both sides need in ord...more
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 you disagree). This tip can be very helpfully applied to disc...more
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 you disagree). This tip can be very helpfully applied to disc...more
1 of the requirements for my business module that I am taking this semester is learning about Negotiation- in this case, it was through real-life casestudies of how the Japanese and the Americans negotiate. Wanting to learn more about Negotiation, I went to check out this book.
The content is written many years ago but it is still highly relevant in today's globalized world. One might think that it's going to be a fast read for a seasoned reader. Not quite; I read it slowly so as to grasp the co...more
The content is written many years ago but it is still highly relevant in today's globalized world. One might think that it's going to be a fast read for a seasoned reader. Not quite; I read it slowly so as to grasp the co...more
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 negotiation. They em...more
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. And to do this, you need to separate the pe...more
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. And to do this, you need to separate the pe...more
It gives you a good and interesting insight into the art of negotiating based on Harvard business techniques.
I can sums it in my notes below;
In negotiating:
Desperate people from problems
Focus on interests not positions
Invent options
Base it on objective criteria
Principled negotiations results in wise agreement and effective and amicable
Focus on interests!
There's positions and interest when it comes to negotiations
What's interest?
It's the commercial bottomland, concrete and explicit.
Often un...more
I can sums it in my notes below;
In negotiating:
Desperate people from problems
Focus on interests not positions
Invent options
Base it on objective criteria
Principled negotiations results in wise agreement and effective and amicable
Focus on interests!
There's positions and interest when it comes to negotiations
What's interest?
It's the commercial bottomland, concrete and explicit.
Often un...more
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 alternative to agreement (B...more
* 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 alternative to agreement (B...more
I find that business books can be very dry or very cheesy, but they can still be very useful if you read between the lines or through the nonsense. If was a very useful book, describing different techniques that you can use or discover in negotiations - not just in business situations, but in life situations.
The authors have done a good job explaining how to approach negotiations - examine stumbling blocks, needs and aims, and then proceeding to close the deal. My one criticism of this book is t...more
The authors have done a good job explaining how to approach negotiations - examine stumbling blocks, needs and aims, and then proceeding to close the deal. My one criticism of this book is t...more
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
I had to read this book as part of a course I took a few years ago. I probably wouldn't have read it on my own because I didn't see myself as needing to do a lot of negotiating. However after reading it I picked up skills and tips I could use in all parts of my life. From debating personal finance decisions with my wife to agreeing on schedules and scope of work in my job.
This book helps you think about the planning you need to do prior to a negotiation and also helps you see things from the poi...more
This book helps you think about the planning you need to do prior to a negotiation and also helps you see things from the poi...more
Since my career has predominantly been negotiating commercial leases I was hesitant to read this book, but it really reinforced much of what I have done in my life. I am a win-win type of person, I guess I thought this book might be filled with more "hard" tactics, but it wasn't at all, they promote principled negotiations which is awesome.
I especially liked the most powerful interests which are the basic human needs - security, economic well-being, a sense of belonging, recognition and control...more
I especially liked the most powerful interests which are the basic human needs - security, economic well-being, a sense of belonging, recognition and control...more
I took a course in negotiation from Roger Fisher in law school and "Getting to Yes" was our text book. The course was largely made up of mock negotiations. And as much as I liked the course and the idea of "Getting to Yes," I have to admit that there were many times that I felt there was no great shared outcome -- no "yesable proposition." Which isn't to say that I don't think the construct is useful. I think it is a valuable way to think about negotiation. But I am not convinced that it is the...more
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Fisher and Ury essentially advise us to reframe negotiations. Instead of a competitive debate between two arbitrary, fixed positions, they recommend we work to uncover the goals and needs of all parties and appeal to objective authority (on questions of value, for example) to arrive at win-win situations. The text provides some useful examples, as well as pointers for dealing with those who don't want to join us in this reframing exercise.
In many ways, this book is common-sense. But mastering th...more
In many ways, this book is common-sense. But mastering th...more
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
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 yo...more
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I've read this book a couple different times, and I think I always find something relevant to my life each time I read it.
I first read this in law school as a required reading for a negotiations class I took, however I feel like the information applies to all aspects of life, not just litigation and negotiation/mediation. You may laugh, but I think it applies most to me as a spouse and as a mother. :0) Not sure it could be classified as a "parenting" book, but you never know. :0)
I would recomm...more
I first read this in law school as a required reading for a negotiations class I took, however I feel like the information applies to all aspects of life, not just litigation and negotiation/mediation. You may laugh, but I think it applies most to me as a spouse and as a mother. :0) Not sure it could be classified as a "parenting" book, but you never know. :0)
I would recomm...more
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Roger Fisher is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law Emeritus, Director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, and the founder of two consulting organizations devoted to strategic advice and negotiation training.
See also: Roger Fisher (academic) on Wikipedia
More about Roger Fisher...
See also: Roger Fisher (academic) on Wikipedia
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