Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation

Cofounder of a Harvard Law School program on negotiation, Ury presents a five-step agenda to deal successfully with opponents, be they unruly teenagers, labor leaders, terrorists or international politicians. Strategies focus on self-discipline, or tactics for defusing the adversary's attacks, and suggestions for developing options designed to lead to a mutually satisfactory agreement. Defining negotiations as ``the art of letting the other person have your way,'' Ury, coauthor of Getting to Yes , stresses the need to understand the other's character and motivation. With examples--including Iacocca and the Chrysler Corporation vs. Congress--he shows the advantages of curbing reactions and stepping back to restore perspective. The author's imaginative and persuasive reasoning, communicated to the ``opponent'' reader, serves in itself to validate his theories. (Aug.)