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The first tenet of what Fisher & Ury call “The Method” is to separate the people from the problem. Although I think I understood their point when I first read the book, over time what stuck with me was the title not the underlying principal. As an advocate and mediator dealing primarily with business disputes, it is tempting to try and simplify the negotiation by trying to convince the parties that they should put aside the emotional component and focus on the cost-benefit of settlement as opposed to the BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement). When we do this we may speed negotiations toward resolution but in many cases we only speed the case to impasse. “Getting to Yes” contends that every negotiator has two separate kinds of interests that must be addressed in the negotiation: 1) interest in the substance and 2) interest in the relationship. The point

I have recently been reading a number of relatively new books with claims of a revolutionary new way to approach negotiation. Without exception and without naming names, each new source has been insightful and a new perspective on the negotiation process that every one of us is involved in every day. Almost without exception, however, each new source compares itself to the classic negotiation manual “Getting to Yes,” first published in 1981. I first read “Getting to Yes” 10-12 years ago after taking the mediator training course from Bob Beason & Rene Ellis (then part of the Duke Private Adjudication Center). I learned a lot from the book but since then it has sat on a bookshelf and then in a box in my basement. In order to fully appreciate the new material I will be reviewing here in the next few months, I thought it a good idea to