The art of negotiation is a life skill that’s handy in both business and your personal life. Your ability to discuss terms with your bosses, colleagues, family, and friends can determine whether you prosper or perish.
Certainly, some people enjoy the negotiation process itself far more than the benefits they stand to gain. You might not be one, but it can be learned and mastered just like any skill you put your efforts into.
Books about Negotiation
Here are some of the best books about negotiation where you can learn how to make better deals, form stronger relationships, and be a better communicator.
1. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz
It doesn’t matter whether you’re buying a car or debating with your partner—life is a series of negotiations you should prepare for. Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator, reveals the nine principles he uses to get the best results out of any situation.
2. Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life by Stuart Diamond
Almost every human activity has an element of negotiation in them. Through knowledge gleaned from 30 years of research, Stuart Diamond shares advice that immediately works in any given situation.
He also explores the fact that understanding and working toward a person’s emotions and viewpoint can be much more productive than the old-school ways of using leverage, power, and logic.
3. Better, Not Perfect: A Realist’s Guide to Maximum Sustainable Goodness by Max H. Bazerman
You make hundreds of decisions every day. Sometimes you unwittingly make inefficient and even unethical ones.
Bazerman, a Harvard Business School professor, talks about the possibility of balancing your principles and your gains over others. Here, he shares frameworks and skills that you can use to develop and attain your “maximum sustainable goodness.”
4. Getting to Yes with Yourself: (and Other Worthy Opponents) by William Ury
One of the world’s leading negotiation specialists, William Ury has worked with dozens of high-profile clients and co-founded Harvard’s Program on Negotiation. Over the years, he’s discovered that the greatest obstacle to negotiation is not the other party, but the self.
In this book, he shares a step-by-step approach to reaching agreements that benefit and satisfy all parties. He also highlights the importance of focusing on the problem rather than being caught up with the people involved.
5. Ask for More: 10 Questions to Negotiate Anything by Alexandra Carter
Negotiation is an essential skill that can improve your work and personal life. Still, many fail to realize this and often shy away from the possibilities it brings.
Alexandra Carter draws from her experience as a law professor and career negotiator to identify the 10 questions that negotiators use to reach a favorable agreement. She also tackles how you can identify problems and their contributing factors as well as the needs and emotions of each party.
6. Negotiate It! How to Crush Your Fears, Develop Your Negotiation Muscle, and Gain Power in the Workplace by Lynn Price
As a corporate attorney with over twenty years of experience, Lynn Price has successfully negotiated thousands of deals in different industries.
She distills this wealth of experience into her proven formula of the three R’s: Ready, Relatable, and Reasonable. Inside, you’ll learn how to crush your fear and be more efficient and strategic with your negotiations.
7. Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen
Receiving and accepting feedback is a necessary skill in negotiation. Yet people often dread feedback, ignore it, or worse, get angry over it. It stops the negotiation process, leaving the parties involved unable to reach an agreement.
Here the authors explain why feedback is both wanted and unwanted. They also offer you practical advice—gleaned from neuroscience and psychology—on how you can treat it with curiosity, respect, and grace.
8. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
Crucial Conversations is a general book about communicating effectively, which makes it a perfect starting point for people trying to improve their negotiation skills.
It talks about being prepared, creating a safe space for communication, and being persuasive instead of demanding. Whether you’re at work or home, its practical insights can be easily adapted to any situation to get you the best results.
9. Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: The Guide to Doing Business in More Than 60 Countries by Terri Morrison and Wayne A. Conaway
Negotiation varies from place to place, and knowing how to adapt is a crucial aspect of this skill. The differences in culture, perspective, and thought processes affect how two people communicate.
With global economies becoming more tightly interweaved, it has become necessary to learn more about other countries’ negotiation customs. This book provides insight into how you can successfully interact with more than 60 countries through mutual respect, appreciation, and skill.
10. Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight by Robert Mnookin
Mnookin, head of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation defines “devils” as perceived as a dangerous opponent. Your first reaction is to avoid or ignore them, but that is usually not the best choice.
By combining business, history, philosophy, and psychology, Mnookin suggests the best courses of action when dealing with these types. Using eight historical conflicts, he demonstrates how knowing when to negotiate or fight will help you focus and survive life’s toughest challenges.
Negotiation Books
Reading books about negotiation is a tried and tested method of being better at it. They offer you a comprehensive understanding of reaching a mutual agreement and equipping you with the tools to achieve your desired outcome.
What other books about negotiation do you recommend? Share them in the comments below!
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Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
