Joshua N. Weiss - The book of real-world negotiations: successful strategies from business, government, and daily life

1. Chapter 1

JOSHUA N. WEISS, PhD.

Cofounder, Global Negotiation Initiative at Harvard

Foreword by William Ury,

bestselling coauthor, Getting to Yes

Copyright 2020 by Joshua N. Weiss. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Weiss, Joshua N., author.

Title: The book of real-world negotiations : successful strategies from business, government, and daily life / Joshua Weiss, Ph.D.

Description: First Edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2020. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020028115 (print) | LCCN 2020028116 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119616191 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119616160 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119616221 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Negotiation. | NegotiationSocial aspects. | Negotiation in business. | NegotiationCross-cultural studies.

Classification: LCC BF637.N4 W457 2020 (print) | LCC BF637.N4 (ebook) | DDC 658.4/052dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020028115

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020028116

Cover Design and Images: Wiley

Whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

Vincent Van Gogh

This book is dedicated to my wife, Adina. Thank you for loving me, letting me love you, and helping me do all the things I love to the best of my ability.

It is a great pleasure to introduce this remarkable book of negotiation stories compiled and analyzed by my old friend and colleague Joshua Weiss.

The Book of Real-World Negotiations helps fill a significant gap in the negotiation literature. It complements the many books in the field that introduce concepts, frameworks, and skills. Here in this book, readers can learn not only about the creative outcomes that are reached, but perhaps more importantly, how the negotiators were able to achieve mutually satisfying results, often against tremendous odds.

As an anthropologist, I appreciate the enormous power of stories to convey lessons, cautions, and inspiration. The human mind learns best through stories. Yet, because of sensitivities and confidentiality, many of the best stories about negotiations are rarely shared. This is where Joshua Weiss makes a real contribution. He has compiled a compelling range of negotiation stories so that they can be discussed, analyzed, and learned from in a way that only real-world cases can offer. Through these stories, Weiss helps us understand the core principles and best practices that can lead to success, as well as the details and nuances critical to reaching agreement.

The book begins by highlighting business negotiations both here in the United States and abroad, suggesting how negotiation can help parties overcome seemingly insuperable barriers to agreement. Then Weiss leads us into negotiations in the world around us from political negotiations to working out disputes in the nonprofit sector to hostage negotiation scenarios. In just about every case, negotiators are required to delve deeply under the surface of the situation in order to discern what is really happening. Only by understanding this hidden dimension of the negotiation are they able to address the needs of their counterpart and reach a satisfactory solution. The key often appears to be the use of creativity, finding ways to expand the pie rather than just divvy it up.

Throughout these stories, Weiss also helps paint a picture of the hard work, tireless persistence, strategy, and creativity that goes into a successful negotiation from preparation to key moments that shift the conversation to the factors that make an agreement stick.

With this compilation of inspiring case studies, Joshua Weiss has rendered a real service to the field of negotiation. I salute him and hope you, the reader, find much insight and benefit in the instructive stories that follow.

William Ury

When I was first approached about writing a book, this is the one that immediately leapt to mind. Why, you might ask, was this so high on my list of things to write about? The rationale for the book and its focus is quite simple there are a plethora of real-world negotiation success stories, in all walks of life, that convey critical lessons about effective negotiation. Unfortunately, most of those examples are hidden or never shared publicly, for various reasons. Thus, people are not learning from what has happened in the past to use in the future. These examples have much to teach us about what masterful negotiation looks like, and the world needs access to them.

My belief, based on years of anecdotal evidence from a multitude of realms, is that there is a rather narrow and limited view of negotiation amongst the general public. Many laypeople believe negotiation is a win-or-lose endeavor that forces the parties to compromise on their essential goals. This perspective could not be further from the truth when it comes to successful negotiation. Instead of talking at people and trying to convince them that they are missing much of the promise that negotiation holds, I decided that I would rather try to demonstrate the value of negotiation through actual examples and let the reader make their own determination. The negotiations that follow hold invaluable teachings that are undeniable and will help to broaden people's perceptions on negotiation and how to overcome difficult obstacles and challenges that are often part of the process.