Getting to Yes

Fisher and Ury argue that most negotiation goes wrong at the outset because people bargain over stated positions — a price, a demand, a deadline — rather than the underlying interests those positions are meant to serve. Positional bargaining turns negotiation into a contest of wills that damages relationships and produces poor compromises, whereas their alternative, which they call principled negotiation, separates the people from the problem, focuses on interests instead of positions, invents multiple options before deciding, and insists results be judged against objective, external standards rather than raw pressure. The method is designed to work whether the other side is cooperative, skilled, or openly manipulative.

This matters because negotiation is not a rare, specialized skill reserved for diplomats and dealmakers — it is a constant feature of ordinary life, from workplace disagreements to family decisions, and a method that produces durable, fair agreements without wrecking relationships has value far beyond the boardroom.

Who should read it

Anyone who regularly has to reach agreements with people they will keep dealing with afterward — managers, salespeople, partners, colleagues — will find the framework directly usable. Readers hoping for aggressive, win-at-all-costs tactics should look elsewhere, since the book's entire thesis is that such tactics tend to backfire over time.

About the author

Roger Fisher was a Harvard Law School professor and founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project; William Ury is an anthropologist and negotiation scholar who co-founded the same program and has mediated conflicts worldwide.