“Interests: Focus on interests, not positions.” This is what separates negotiation from debating. A debating team defends—or attacks—a certain position, no matter what. It is its sole interest to do that. Like an infantry, its position is its interest. Negotiation should never become debating (or trench warfare). In negotiation people have many interests, and it is the interests, not some debating position, that need to be satisfied. Indeed, one’s position may sometimes go against one’s interests and one does not want to be so identified with one’s position that one cannot change it. This is
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