The Book of Real-World Negotiations: Successful Strategies From Business, Government, and Daily Life

by Joshua N. Weiss, William Ury (Foreword)

Real world negotiation examples and strategies from one of the most highly respected authorities in the field This unique book can help you change your approach to negotiation by learning key strategies and techniques from actual cases. Through hard to find real world examples you will learn exactly how to effectively and productively negotiate. The Book of Real World Successful Strategies from Business, Government and Daily Life shines a light on real world negotiation examples and cases, rather than discussing hypothetical scenarios. It reveals what is possible through preparation, persistence, creativity, and taking a strategic approach to your negotiations. Many of us enter negotiations with skepticism and without understanding how to truly negotiate well. Because we lack knowledge and confidence, we may abandon the negotiating process prematurely or agree to deals that leave value on the table.   The Book of Real World Negotiations will change that once and for all by immersing you in these real world scenarios. As a result, you’ll be better able to grasp the true power of negotiation to deal with some of the most difficult problems you face or to put together the best deals possible. This book also shares critical insights and lessons for instructors and students of negotiation, especially since negotiation is now being taught in virtually all law schools, many business schools, and in the field of conflict resolution. Whether you’re a student, instructor, or anyone who wants to negotiate successfully, you’ll be able to carefully examine real world negotiation situations that will show you how to achieve your objectives in the most challenging of circumstances. The cases are organized by realms―domestic business cases, international business cases, governmental cases and cases that occur in daily life. From these cases you will learn more Once you come to understand through these cases that negotiation is the art of the possible, you’ll stop saying "a solution is impossible." With the knowledge and self-assurance you gain from this book, you’ll roll up your sleeves and keep negotiating until you reach a mutually satisfactory outcome!

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Psychology

320 pages, Hardcover

Published August 25, 2020

Reviews

[Kevin Stecyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book on Negotiation

While I enjoyed reading the case studies on numerous negotiations, the case studies themselves provided brief summaries of the actual negotiations. To fully appreciate the complexities and challenges in each of the negotiations, a separate book for each negotiation would be required. In other words, there is a lot more depth to the negotiations than is revealed in this book.

That said, I appreciate that Weiss highlighted key turning points that allowed these difficult negotiations to come to resolution. It’s good to keep these in mind as we negotiate our business and personal situations.

[Hadrien Cornier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book on negotiation I’ve read. What I was really looking for were concrete, real-world examples so I could draw my own conclusions. I think the book tried to stay very simple, maybe too simple. It should have either leaned more clearly into core concepts, or gone much deeper into each individual case.

What it mostly does is move through very high-level cases, identify one lesson per case, and then extract that lesson explicitly at the end. That part actually works. But often the lesson feels bigger than the case itself, and because of that the stories don’t really stick. They’re not very memorable. Overall, the book lacks personality, and even the presentation feels a bit flat. It has that “designed for busy business people” vibe, where the goal seems to be to skim, grab a few takeaways, and move on.

The main thing I took from it was the distinction between positional negotiation and interest-based negotiation. That was useful. But honestly, I think I got more out of the book once I started interrogating it myself. I kept asking for clarifications, looking things up with AI, and applying the framework to current events. For example, thinking through negotiations around Greenland or the situation with Iran as an exercise. That practice did more for my understanding than the book on its own.

So yeah, it wasn’t useless. I did get something out of it. But it felt extremely pragmatic and surface-level, almost like it was highlighting points that are already fairly obvious. For my next read, I think I want something either more conceptual, more in-depth, or written for a more introspective audience. This one was practical, but it could have been a lot better.

[Fred Fontz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was somewhat disappointed by this book. It’s laid out well and makes for an easy read. But, I didn’t feel much personality in the book.

Generally, it was just a case study material that seemed like something I’d read in a class. Admittedly, that is exactly what is described in the introduction.

There are also sections of this book that assume you know the lingo of negotiations already. It mentions a BATNA without defining it or providing what it stands for unless you go to the glossary.

Overall, I found this book as a very ordinary option. I’m not upset that I read it, but I’m also not ecstatic about it either.