The Art of Negotiation: Focus on Interests, Not Positions
Lately, I’ve been reading Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury—a classic that reshaped how I think about negotiation. One of its most valuable lessons is the idea of focusing on interests, not positions.
A position is what we say we want—for example, insisting on paying $15,000 for a car. An interest, however, reflects the underlying reasons behind that position: staying within budget, securing favorable payment terms, or making sure the vehicle includes after-sale support. When discussions center only on positions, negotiations become rigid. But when both sides explore their broader interests, they often uncover multiple ways to create value and reach agreement. This mindset turns negotiation from a zero-sum game into a collaborative problem-solving process.
Another key takeaway is to be hard on the problem and soft on the people. Fisher and Ury argue that successful negotiators separate personal relationships from the issue at hand. They recommend balancing firmness about the problem with empathy toward the people involved. As they write, “Give positive support to the human beings on the other side equal in strength to the vigor with which you emphasize the problem.” This dual approach harnesses cognitive dissonance—the discomfort people feel when holding contradictory attitudes—to encourage cooperation rather than conflict.
Great negotiators don’t “win” by overpowering their counterparts. They win by understanding what truly matters—to themselves and to others—and using that insight to create lasting, mutually beneficial agreements.
