cover image Win Win Negotiations for Couples

Win Win Negotiations for Couples

Charlotte Whitney. Para Research, $12.95 (197pp) ISBN 978-0-914918-66-0

This upbeat guide to joint decision-making is for college-educated, two-career mates with a trusting relationship and large income who find no problem in talking about marriage in the language of business. The key here is the ""win-win'' theory (meaning cooperating for everyone's long-range good), which Whitney has transplanted from her field of business management. For conflicts over finances, childcare, and career relocations, she suggests that couples make weight lists, schedule relaxing times for negotiations, pout less and compromise more. For household chores, her advice ranges from setting mutual dirt thresholds, to buying a microwave oven or hiring a cleaning person. The emphasis for solving problems is on communications; the goal is that both members of the couple have it all. January