Book Review: Getting to Yes

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Here's a great read for anyone who has ever found themselves locked in a battle of wills they didn't ask for, who is simply trying (from their own perspective) to get another to accept what is fair or right.  The book was a best seller in its day, and is now a classic from the Harvard Negotiation Project.  Accessible, practical, and clear, Getting to Yes provides the step-by-step how-to of negotiation for those who have no interest in playing hardball.  But also for those who don't want to cave in just to maintain a relationship with the person on the other side.  It's a process for win-win, and it works.

Click here to download a two-page summary written by me!

I reserve the five-star rating for books that changed my life, and Getting to Yes certainly qualifies.  The name of my consulting business, Creative Option C, expresses my highest value in organizational development, the idea that there is always a way to create an option that works for everybody.  The "A" people don't have to defeat the "B" people to get their way... they have to work with the "B" people to invent a new option that everyone loves.  When both are committed to the relationship, and when they work a tried-and-true process, they can always, always, always succeed.  Fisher and Ury gave us the process back in 1981. 

This book is worth going to again and again.  I recommend it to one and all.  In fact, I am taking 13 copies of it to meeting tomorrow.


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