Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People [Paperback]

Roger Fisher (Author), William Ury (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cofounder of a Harvard Law School program on negotiation, Ury presents a five-step agenda to deal successfully with opponents, be they unruly teenagers, labor leaders, terrorists or international politicians. Strategies focus on self-discipline, or tactics for defusing the adversary's attacks, and suggestions for developing options designed to lead to a mutually satisfactory agreement. Defining negotiations as "the art of letting the other person have your way," Ury, coauthor of Getting to Yes , stresses the need to understand the other's character and motivation. With examples--including Iacocca and the Chrysler Corporation vs. Congress--he shows the advantages of curbing reactions and stepping back to restore perspective. The author's imaginative and persuasive reasoning, communicated to the "opponent" reader, serves in itself to validate his theories.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Ury (Beyond the Hotline, 1985, and coauthor, with Roger Fisher, of the hugely best-selling Getting to Yes, 1981) has returned to the subject he knows best--this time focusing on the most difficult negotiating opponents, whose resistance may take the form of stonewalling, threats, and assorted dirty tricks. Where Getting to Yes used the catch phrase ``principled negotiation'' to describe its method, ``breakthrough negotiation'' is Ury's umbrella term here. He sees five potential barriers to success: the opponent's negative emotions, negotiating habits, skepticism about the benefits of agreement, perceived power, and, finally, one's own reaction to all of the four. ``Breakthrough negotiation'' offers a five-step response to the barriers: don't react, disarm your opponent, change the game, make it easy to say yes, and make it hard to say no. Readers familiar with Getting to Yes may experience d‚j… vu as Ury discusses developing one's BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) or counsels on the importance of knowing when to remain silent (his ``Some of the most effective negotiating you will ever do is when you are not talking'' in Getting to Yes becomes, here, ``Some of the most effective negotiation is accomplished by saying nothing''). But No is not simply a rehash of the greatly successful Yes; new ground is covered, the organization is clear, the writing is crisp, and the examples are timely, engaging, and appropriate (although not always new--e.g., a divorce settlement in which equity in a husband's house is substituted for child-support payments was also cited in the earlier text). Expert advice, even though not entirely on new ground. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Random House Business Books; Export ed edition (September 12, 1991)
• ISBN-10: 0712653279
• ISBN-13: 978-0712653275
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,377,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its not tips.. its a technique that has to be worked out, June 13, 2006

By	Humberto Mejia "Still alive and kicking" (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People (Audio CD)

My profile: 42 yo, sales engineer.

I find this audiobook a constant refernce in my travel pack. As a sales engineer on the road I keep resorting to the techniques of this book to find the break-through awakening in the negotiation process.

This approach is not ivory-towered inspirired, its based on very concrete situations and it calls for leaderhip qualities that are assumed by default since you are your own worst enemy.

I find this audiobook more complete than getting to yes and a complement to it. negotiation is not a subject just to be left to one tool or aproach, I encourage anyone inetrested in the theme to spice-it-up with other tip observing book such as Herb Cohen's.

Be prepared to study and use a powerful technique.

5.0 out of 5 stars geeting past no, June 22, 2009

By	Arthur B. Aten - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People (Audio CD)

Shorter than i thought it would be but has great information. to get the most you need to also read getting to yes first.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, December 31, 2005

By	J. Arias Diaz "javardi" (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Getting Past No (Audio Cassette)

I enjoyed the audio edition of this book while driving to my work. My english comprehension is not very good, but the clarity of the pronunciation and the great content of the book made me happy during several Madrid's traffic jams