Negotiation is stuck. It's time for something new.
Almost everything is negotiable. Almost every interaction is a negotiation. And in no field is this clearer than in business, where every day we work with others to get things done. But when we have real differences, is win-win always possible? Or must every negotiation be a zero-sum battle, with a winner and a loser?
Over the last half century, two opposing philosophies have ruled the field of negotiation: the win-lose, tooth-and-nail approach of training guru Chester Karrass; and the win-win, "principled" creed of Getting to Yes, developed by Roger Fisher and William Ury. But neither approach fully meets the challenge of today's volatile, disruptive, ultracompetitive business environment, where strategic problem-solving is of critical importance.
In Creative Conflict, negotiation experts Bill Sanders and Frank Mobus provide something new. They use a dynamic, dialectical approach to show how negotiations are driven by competition and cooperation at the same time. Counterintuitively, they reveal that conflict lies at the heart of more profitable agreements. They believe that when we tiptoe around conflict, we negotiate in a half-hearted way that limits our results. By contrast, creative negotiators probe and push until they hit a wall of disagreement, and then they figure out how to get past it. The authors construct a clear and useful framework based on three distinct negotiating contexts: Bargaining, Creative Dealmaking, and Relationship Building. They instruct readers on how to skillfully pursue their fair share while simultaneously seeking ways to expand a deal's scope and value for both sides.
Author
Bill Sanders, CEO of Mobus Creative Negotiating, served for 20 years at Karrass as director of program development, creating customized negotiating programs for the company’s top accounts. Together with Frank Mobus, he reinvented negotiating practice at more than half the Fortune 500–and gained an in-depth understanding of what it takes to flourish in 21st-century business.
After joining Mobus Creative Negotiating in 2014, Sanders helped to build an A-list clientele, including AT&T, BorgWarner, Skanska, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford. Sanders previously worked in publishing as an acquisitions editor in STM (scientific/technical/medical) publishing for Chapman and Hall, IEEE Computer Society, and Springer Verlag. He received his doctorate in physical chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University. Sanders continues to consult with National Football League franchises in the area of statistical analysis. Over the last 30 years, this work has helped ten head coaches become Super Bowl champions.