"Professor Wheeler creatively pulls from vastly different professions such as NASCAR drivers, jazz musicans and improv actors, expanding our awareness of negotiations and equipping us with practical, innovative tools to navigate complex negotiations."
Description
A member of the world renowned Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School introduces the powerful next-generation approach to negotiation.
For many years, two approaches to negotiation have prevailed: the “win-win” method exemplified in Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton; and the hard-bargaining style of Herb Cohen’s You Can Negotiate Anything. Now award-winning Harvard Business School professor Michael Wheeler provides a dynamic alternative to one-size-fits-all strategies that don’t match real world realities.
The Art of Negotiation shows how master negotiators thrive in the face of chaos and uncertainty. They don’t trap themselves with rigid plans. Instead they understand negotiation as a process of exploration that demands ongoing learning, adapting, and influencing. Their agility enables them to reach agreement when others would be stalemated.
Michael Wheeler illuminates the improvisational nature of negotiation, drawing on his own research and his work with Program on Negotiation colleagues. He explains how the best practices of diplomats such as George J. Mitchell, dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein, and Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub apply to everyday transactions like selling a house, buying a car, or landing a new contract. Wheeler also draws lessons on agility and creativity from fields like jazz, sports, theater, and even military science.
Reviews
"The secret to successful negotiation is not just preparation and a good plan, but inspired improvisation. Until now, there has never been a book on this all-important and neglected aspect of negotiation but now, thanks to Mike Wheeler, we have a beautifully written, insightful and practical guide to the "jazz" of negotiation. The Art of Negotiation is a real gem and an essential contribution to the literature!"
“This brilliantly readable book is packed with powerful advice for managing the complexity and uncertainty of real-world negotiations with improvisational mastery.”
"Michael Wheeler has written a new business classic. He presents powerful negotiation strategies and techniques for managers in any industry."