Getting to Yes

Getting to YES arose from the Harvard Negotiation Project, a program at Harvard University’s School of Law. The program was founded in 1979 by law professor Roger Fisher and two students, anthropology PhD candidate William Ury and law student Bruce Patton. The ongoing purpose of the Project is “practice-focused research, involvement in ongoing high-level deals and disputes, as well as education and training” in the field of negotiation (“Harvard Negotiation Project”).

In 1978, Professor Fisher participated in the Camp David accords that generated a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. There, Fisher developed the concept of the “one-text” agreement, a form of shuttle diplomacy that allows the parties to negotiate bits and pieces of an agreement without committing to it until the end. This format became a common technique in international diplomacy.

The Harvard Negotiation Project also developed the concept of Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA). Using BATNA, negotiators clarify their best path forward if no agreement is reached, decide whether the other side’s best offer is better than no offer, and use any leverage their BATNA provides to try to improve that offer.

The Project evolved from the founders’ interest in negotiation techniques that seek, not to defeat the other side, but to collaborate, find productive ways to settle disputes, and resolve multiple interests and needs for both parties. The Project is based on four basic techniques: to disentangle personalities and their egos from negotiations; to focus on each side’s interests instead of their bargaining positions; to generate multiple ways to resolve disputes elegantly rather than painfully; and to use established standards and criteria to settle differences that may arise under an agreement.

Fisher’s student allies wanted to promote Fisher’s negotiating skills to a wider audience. The Project soon was producing books, beginning with Getting to YES; it also began teaching negotiation theory and holding workshops for professionals. In addition, Project members developed new bargaining techniques, tested them in real-world situations, added the successful ones to their negotiating toolbox, and taught them at Harvard.

Students participate in real-world interventions alongside their teachers, an experience akin to a medical student going on hospital rounds. Several of the Project’s published books, including Getting to YES, are collaborations between Fisher and selected students. Many young participants have gone on to successful careers as negotiators.

Project members predicted correctly that the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979 wouldn’t be resolved until after the US presidential election the following year. They then proposed a one-text draft of an agreement, which was negotiated and adopted by the US and Iran. They worked on peace treaties in South America and South Africa, as well as on nuclear policy between the US and Russia. The Project continues to contribute to negotiations between disputants in Middle East hot spots.

By 1983, the Project’s influence had grown so large that an umbrella organization emerged, Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. The Harvard Negotiation Project remains a central pillar of that program; it uses a cross-disciplinary approach to problem solving and includes participants from MIT and Tufts University. Fisher’s influence is summarized in an issue of the Harvard Law Review dedicated to his memory.