Getting to YES (Negotiating Agreement without giving in) 2nd ed– Roger Fisher and William Ury
Synopsis:
This book can be thought of as an introduction to negotiation. Many people have a misunderstanding of what negotiation really is. If you think of negotiating as two people in a corporate situation pounding fists on tables or haggling with a car salesperson, you need to learn what negotiating really is. This book explains why you should learn how to negotiate and then goes into the method of negotiation to achieve agreement. It looks at what you should focus on while negotiating and deals with dirty tricks others may use and how to avoid them.
What I gained from reading this book:
I have read a few negotiating books and most of them followed similar information and advice. This was the fourth book I had read on the topic so the information here was not new to me. However, it was good to read the methods and examples from a different perspective. The book goes into detail on why you should focus on interests rather than positions and uses examples that are very common in real life.
As this book is more of a foundation to negotiating, I would have gained more if it was the first book I read on the subject. If you haven’t read anything on negotiating before, this book is a great place to start.
Positives:
Good use of examples to explain problems and solutions. Explains the foundations of negotiating very well and clear enough to start applying the principles straight away. This book is not only for business people, negotiations happen every day in all aspects of life. As the author says ‘like it or not, you’re a negotiator’. You may not think you negotiate before you read this book but you notice that you certainly do afterwards. If you apply the principles you may find you make much better decisions and reach better agreements more often. Negotiating is a skill everybody should learn. If you apply these principles, life can be made just that extra bit easier.
Negatives:
If you have already read books on negotiating before reading this one, you may feel disappointed because it will most likely cover the same ground. But of course if this is your first book on negotiating it won’t be a problem.
Recommended for: Everybody
I recommend this book for everybody because no matter what you do for a living, you need to know how to negotiate. This isn’t just for salespeople and corporate executives (although it can help those people immensely). This book can help you even with day to day negotiations like ‘what to have for dinner’ or ‘what TV channel to watch’.
Genre: Business skills
Overall rating: 7 of 10 stars
Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below
Where to from here:
To improve your negotiating understanding, it would be a good idea to read a book on body language:
What every BODY is saying by Joe Navarro
Body language (How to read others’ thoughts by their gestures) by Allan Pearse
Alternatively, to understand another way of influencing people, I recommend:
How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie
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