Getting to Yes: Principled Negotiation
The Harvard method — negotiate on interests, not positions, and know your BATNA
What is principled negotiation from Getting to Yes, and how do you use it?
Getting to Yes (Fisher & Ury, of the Harvard Negotiation Project) argues for negotiating on the merits instead of haggling over positions: separate people from the problem, focus on underlying interests, invent options for mutual gain, and judge outcomes by objective criteria — with your BATNA as the source of real leverage. It’s an influential framework grounded in decision theory and negotiation experience rather than a lab-tested protocol.
Positional bargaining — staking a number and grinding toward the middle — wastes effort, strains relationships, and often leaves value on the table. Fisher and Ury’s alternative is to negotiate on the merits: get behind stated positions to the interests driving them, expand the options, and anchor agreement to standards both sides accept. Below are the core practices, each with the reasoning that makes it work.
Practices
- Focus on interests, not positions
Dig beneath what each side demands to why they want it — the interest, not the stance.
- Separate the people from the problem
Be hard on the problem, soft on the people — attack the issue, not each other.
- Invent options for mutual gain
Brainstorm multiple possible deals before deciding, expanding the pie before splitting it.
- Insist on objective criteria
Anchor the deal to independent standards — market rates, precedent, expert opinion — not willpower.
- Know your BATNA
Your Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement is the source of your real leverage.
- Negotiation jujitsu
When they attack your position, don’t push back — redirect the force toward the problem.
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