The Negotiation Book

Preface

I thought I would find you here. Curious? You should be. Negotiation is fundamental to your life and the way you distribute, create, protect, resolve, and manage anything of value. It is central to the viability of every business, for even non-profit-making organizations. It has delivered peace in war, resolved bedtime tantrums with our children, helped avoid millions of court cases, and has probably helped save a few marriages along the way too. It is how you resolve differences and form agreements based on mutually acceptable terms. It can represent the difference between viability and insolvency, profit making or loss, growth or decline; such is the power of the outcomes.

Great negotiators often go unnoticed. They are not interested in winning or glory. They have an attitude of mind that is focused on the hard work of building agreements and protecting this work through the necessary confidentiality that follows. However, great negotiators – and maybe you – recognize that the return on time invested is dramatic, perhaps in relationships, time saved, risk reduced, profit made, or even dilemmas resolved. No other skill offers so much value in return for competent performance.

This second edition is aimed at providing a modern, up-to-date guide to how to negotiate in today's world. I have set out to provide you with an insight into negotiation from a practitioner's perspective. It is not prescriptive, but aims to help you to get better deals by being aware that it is ...