Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In

by Roger Fisher

Problem Positional Bargaining: Which Game Should You Play? Solution Change the Game—Negotiate on the Merits Soft Hard Principled Participants are friends. Participants are adversaries. Participants are problem-solvers. The goal is agreement. The goal is victory. The goal is a wise outcome reached efficiently and amicably. Make concessions to cultivate the relationship. Demand concessions as a condition of the relationship. Separate the people from the problem. Be soft on the people and the problem. Be hard on the problem and the people. Be soft on the people, hard on the problem. Trust others. Distrust others. Proceed independent of trust. Change your position easily. Dig in to your position. Focus on interests, not positions. Make offers. Make threats. Explore interests. Disclose your bottom line. Mislead as to your bottom line. Avoid having a bottom line. Accept one-sided losses to reach agreement. Demand one-sided gains as the price of agreement. Invent options for mutual gain. Search for the single answer: the one they will accept. Search for the single answer: the one you will accept. Develop multiple options to choose from; decide later. Insist on agreement. Insist on your position. Insist on using objective criteria. Try to avoid a contest of will. Try to win a contest of will. Try to reach a result based on standards independent of will. Yield to pressure. Apply pressure. Reason and be open to reason; yield to principle, not pressure.