3-d Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals (Hardcover)

~ (Author), James K. Sebenius (Author)
Key Phrases: basic process choices, barriers audit, positive social contract, Battle Line, United States, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a first-rate piece of work. I recommend it highly." -- Peter G. Peterson, Senior Chairman and cofounder, The Blackstone Group

"...the clear and innovative concept has contributed invaluably...to many agreements that are critical to Novartis." -- Daniel Vasella, MD, Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG, Switzerland

"3-D Negotiation is a brilliant and rigorous exposition of key bargaining strategy techniques from two masters of negotiation." -- Paul F. Levy, President and CEO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

"At last, practical advice on how to overcome obstacles that prevent us from getting to yes." -- Roger Fisher, coauthor of Getting to Yes

"Lax and Sebenius capture what I've seen great deal makers take years to perfect." -- Stephen Friedman, former Chairman and Senior Partner, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Product Description

Stuck in a "win-win versus win-lose" debate, most negotiation books focus on face-to-face tactics. Yet table tactics are only the "first dimension" of Lax and Sebenius’s pathbreaking 3-D Negotiation™ approach, developed from their decades of doing deals and analyzing great dealmakers. Moves in their "second dimension"—deal design—systematically unlock economic and non-economic value by creatively structuring agreements.

But what sets the 3-D approach apart is its "third dimension": setup. Before showing up at a bargaining session, 3-D Negotiators ensure that the right parties have been approached, in the right sequence, to address the right interests, under the right expectations, and facing the right consequences of walking away if there is no deal. This new arsenal of moves away from the table often exerts the greatest impact on the negotiated outcome.

Packed with practical steps and cases, 3-D Negotiation demonstrates how superior setup moves plus insightful deal designs can enable you to reach remarkable agreements at the table, unattainable by standard tactics.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591397995
• ISBN-13: 978-1591397991
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #56,904 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3-D Negotiation in a 1-D World, December 31, 2006

By	Michael A. Lally "Mike Lally" (Fairport, NY USA) - See all my reviews

3-D Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals by David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius is not the book for Gordon Gekko types, practiced in the simple tactics of win-lose haggling. This book is the The Art of War for deal making. Like Sun Tzu for strategy, 3-D Negotiation is the primer on creating deals with lasting value. Anyone that has ever bought, sold, or traded anything will gain something with even the most cursory read of this work.

3-D Negotiation is a book that will become dog-eared, highlighted, notated, and underlined. This is a reference that you will return to again and again. It is very clearly written in a way that is accessible to everyone. Each point is illustrated with a relevant and detailed real-world (and often personal) example from the authors.

The authors are both graduates of Harvard Business School, co-founders of Harvard's Negotiation Roundtable and developed the executive program on strategic negotiation at the Business School. They have decade's worth of deal-making experience and analysis between them.

Lax and Sebenius take a contrarian approach to much of the current thinking and teaching on negotiation. They seek to move us away from the familiar win-win and win-lose tactical approaches and help us understand negotiation along the following dimensions:

* 1-D: At the Table - tactics

* 2-D: Design Value Creating Deals - getting "below the surface to uncover the sources of economic and non-economic value.

* 3-D: Away from the table - the setup - setting the table - "ensuring that the right parties have been approached, in the right sequence, to deal with the right issues that engage the right set of interests, at the right table..., at the right time, under the right expectations, and facing the right consequences of walking away if there is no deal."

This book focuses heavily on the deal design and setup dimensions. Throughout, the authors reinforce the concept that roadblocks in any one dimension may often be solved in another dimension. The focus is on crafting deals that create long-lasting value for all sides.

3-D Negotiation goes well beyond simply waiting for the other side to talk first once you are all sitting together at a table. Negotiation takes work. It takes planning. It takes analysis and research. And most of all you have to listen. If you are serious about learning the craft of deal design that creates lasting value, Lax and Sebenius are here to help.

The authors have created a comprehensive methodology to deal making. To start, they recommend you complete a 3-D barriers audit "to determine what stands between you and the deal you want." An audit consists of the following exercises:

* Assess the barriers to the setup

* Create a detailed "map" of everyone involved, their roles, their full interests and their best no-deal options

* Plan the sequence of events and process choices

* Analyze and understand all the barriers to deal design

* Analyze and understand any "tactical and interpersonal barriers"

They offer the following recommendation: "to help organize the elements of your strategy, map backward from your target deal to the deal/no-deal balance that will most likely induce [the other parties] to make this choice, and then make your way back to the current situation. This enables you to determine the actions you must now take to face them with the right deal/no-deal balance."

As a helpful exercise, they recommend writing the victory speech for your counterparts. The speech should include the reasons "why the agreement they made with you is smart, fair, reasonable, and better than the alternative."

Once you have the end clearly in focus you can then work backward to "craft a 3-D strategy". A 3-D strategy is "aligned combination of moves away from the table, at the drawing board, and at the table in which you":

* Set up the right negotiation

* Design value-creating deals

* Stress problem-solving tactics

In closing, I've had the opportunity to use some of the ideas offered in this book during recent negotiations with a potential vendor. We created a 3-D strategy after we looked at all the players and their no-deal options. We understood as many of the barriers as possible. We quickly identified the ZOPA (zone of possible agreement) and have been living in that zone trying to iron out all the details.) I've found myself picking this book up from time to time and leafing through it. Every time I do, I pull something useful out of it. Their methodology works. We are successfully building a solid partnership that creates and ensures value for both parties for years to come.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking negotiation beyond us vs. them..., October 18, 2006

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Most books on negotiation that I've read focus on the tactics you use when you're face-to-face with the opponent. But what if you take a step back and shape the negotiation before you even show up? That's the general direction of 3-D Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals by David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius. I can see where this would give you a step up in numerous situations...

Contents:
Part 1 - Overview: Negotiate in Three Dimensions; Do a 3-D Audit of Barriers to Agreement; Craft a 3-D Strategy to Overcome the Barriers
Part 2 - Set Up the Right Negotiation: Get All the Parties Right; Get All the Interests Right; Get the No-Deal Options Right; Get the Sequence and Basic Process Choices Right
Part 3 - Design Value-Creating Deals: Move "Northeast"; Dovetail Differences; Make Lasting Deals; Negotiate the Spirit of the Deal
Part 4 - Stress Problem-Solving Tactics: Shape Perceptions to Claim Value; Solve Joint Problems to Create and Claim Value
Part 5 - 3-D Strategies in Practice: Map Backward to Craft a 3-D Strategy; Think Strategically, Act Opportunistically
Notes; Authors' Note; Index; About the Authors

Lax and Sebenius have extensive experience in working with corporations negotiating multi-million dollar deals, and from that base they have evolved the idea of 3-D negotiation. Basically, you need to look at your deal-making in a multidimensional way instead of just trying to hammer the side across the table. In some cases, this may mean that the party you're trying to do the deal with isn't even the right customer you should be approaching. Or perhaps the no-deal option of the other side is still better than what you have to offer. What then? These guidelines, if followed, can make your time at the table much more productive, and allow both sides to come away with what they need and/or want in the deal.

The authors don't completely ignore the strategy of what plays out when the parties are face-to-face. Such things as understanding the Zone Of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) and being aware of the reciprocity factor will keep you from giving up too much too soon. But keeping the deal from quickly becoming a value-claiming effort can lead to possibilities that aren't necessarily envisioned up front. There are plenty of examples from real companies and real deals so that you can see how it works in real life...

An excellent read that will allow you to look at your next deal as more than a win-lose proposition...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable book for serious negotiators, November 4, 2006

By	Frank L. Park, Jr. (Gloucester, MA) - See all my reviews

Einstein said something to the effect of "make things as simple as possible, but no simpler." The authors of 3D-Negotiation have done just that.

They give appropriate credit to deft tactics at the bargaining table, but make a real contribution by illuminating the importance of setting up the optimal conditions for successful negotiation. If you're looking for cheerful cliches about win-win negotiation, you won't find them here. Nor will you find chest-thumping stories about winning through intimidation or brute force. Instead, you'll get insightful analysis of complex business and diplomatic cases, all of which have a mix of competitive and cooperative elements. Anyone who thinks that negotiation is only about who makes the first offer (or for that matter, who's adept at creating a trusting relationship) will get eaten for lunch by readers who master this book.