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Fisher and Ury: negotiating by interests

A negotiation over a room, a date or a figure turns into a contest of stubbornness. What someone asks for has one solution; why they need it has several.

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Roger Fisher (1922–2012) and William Ury (b. 1953) · 1981

How it works

'We need room 305 on Thursday' is a position. 'We need a room for sixty people with a projector, in the evening' is an interest — and agreement is only possible in the second sentence.

PositionsInterests

Your positionwhat you are asking for: 'do it in February'

Their positionwhat they are asking for: 'do it in April'

Your interestwhy that timing matters to you — the intake of first-years, say

Their interestwhy that timing matters to them — the exams, say

Your sideThe other side

Fill the four boxes before the meeting; and before you walk away, answer what happens if you do not agree — that is your BATNA.

What you do first

Before your next negotiation write four lines: our interest, their likely interest, three options that would satisfy both, and what we do if there is no deal. In the conversation ask "and why does that matter?" at least once, and write the answer down.

Who thought of it

Roger Fisher (1922–2012) and William Ury (b. 1953)

1981

The full biography is on the public version →

No freely licensed likeness of this person exists, so this is a generated emblem. It is not a portrait.

Where this runs in the platform

These screens carry out this specific work. Every published work in the library also has at least an exercise — it is at the foot of this page.

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What this connects to

These works are related to the one you just read — and not by accident:

Aristotle's Rhetoric: ethos, pathos, logos

Aristotle (384–322 BC) · c. 350 BC