Canonical · Negotiation & Persuasion · Book

Negotiating the Impossible

Deepak Malhotra · 2016

"Deadlocks that look unsolvable through direct bargaining usually get broken by changing the game itself — the frame, the players at the table, or the process — rather than by pushing harder within the existing structure."

The idea

A Harvard Business School professor studied negotiations that looked hopeless on paper — hostage standoffs, corporate takeovers, the Cuban Missile Crisis — and found the ones that resolved shared a pattern: someone stopped negotiating the terms and started negotiating the game.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

Start with No

"Chasing agreement makes you weak — a negotiator who needs a 'yes' has already given up leverage, while one who invites 'no' keeps the decision, and the deal, fully in the other side's honest control."

Jim Camp · BookContinue→