beyond reason by Roger Fisher & Daniel Shapiro

It takes much longer to read a book when you keep stopping to think about how differently you would have handled a particular situation if you only had known about the tools discussed in this book. beyond reason Using Emotions as You Negotiate is written by Roger Fisher, the co-author of Getting to Yes and the director of the Harvard Negotiation Project and Daniel Shaprio, the associate director of the Harvard Negotiation Project. These two gentlemen have written a most thought provoking book.

If you’ve Fisher’s Getting to Yes, you’ll find this a good companion read. While it’s not necessary to read Getting to Yes to appreciate beyond reason, in many ways, beyond reason is a sequel to Getting to Yes, building on the techniques outlined therein.

In beyond reason, the authors present two planks that serve as the platform for dealing with emotions in negotiations:

– “Take the initiative…don’t wait for emotions to happen and then react.”

– “Address the concern, not the emotion.

To address the concern, it’s not necessary to become an expert at identifying what emotions your counterparts are feeling. Nor is it necessary to recognize all the emotions you’re experiencing. In the authors’ view, there are 5 core concerns we all share:

            Appreciation

            Affiliation

            Autonomy

            Status

            Role

When you read beyond reason, you’ll discover, and likely agree with the authors’ point of view that these are concerns we all share.  Using the ideas outline in the book, you’ll learn how to prepare for a negotiation by anticipating for and addressing the core concerns. The tools and ideas are straightforward and, with commitment and practise, could easily become second nature when completing negotiations of all sorts.

There’s a fantastic real world example contributed by Jamil Mahuad, the former President of Ecuador. Not only is it gratifying to hear of these types of approaches being used in “the real world’, to read of a President who embraces life-long learning and isn’t afraid to ask for help, was quite inspirational.

beyond reason is well written and well worth reading. Recommended.