Roger Fisher, co-author of the key handbook on negotiation “Getting To Yes”, was remembered in a recent appreciation following his death on 25th August.
His best-selling manual provides useful approaches to negotiation which can be applied in family situations as well as big-business and international diplomacy. It points out that to maximise your own gains, you need to help the other side to gain.
Fisher also identified the importance of emotion. There is little point in reacting angrily and antagonising an opponent if the result is to spark a similar response and a downward spiral into the familiar win/lose, “zero-sum” game.
Worth bearing in mind when negotiating, whether it is the Middle East Peace Process, the ending of South African apartheid or the arrangements for children after separation.
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