Most of our negotiation practice is however based on more recent methods. There is no denying that the Harvard Negotiation Project has had a massive impact on the field of negotiation. Especially the book ‘Getting to Yes’, written by Fisher and Ury has changed the way most of us look at negotiations. It was published in 1981 and focuses on ‘principled negotiation’. It focuses on finding acceptable solutions for all by compromising on both sides, preferably on variables that are less important to you.
However, Jim Camp’s ‘Start With No’ was a clear response to Fisher and Ury. Unfortunately, this method is not as well-known as ‘Getting to Yes’. The big change was that Camp doesn’t advocate compromises. He makes clear that basically you only negotiate if you have a veto, and if you do, you can always say ‘no’. That means that we are not negotiating for a deal, but for an outcome, and occasionally no deal is the best possible outcome. Camp shares the insight that rather than ‘yes’ you should be aiming for a ‘no’, because that is a more sincere and honest answer.
Chris Voss has taken a lot of inspiration from Camp, and ‘Never Split the Difference’ is a great introduction to ‘Start with No’. Voss’s book has popularized negotiation and it is easy to implement in your negotiations.
