Getting a yes....

Harvard Law Professor Roger Fisher revolutionized negotiation training with his classic 1981 book, Getting to Yes (with William Ury). Instead of casting those on either side of the bargaining table as adversaries in a zero-sum game, this practical manual—and the Harvard Negotiation Project that launched it—called for a collaborative, mutual problem-solving approach to negotiating. Getting to Yes was the first iteration of what we now know as “win-win” negotiating. Getting to Yes, and the series of books that followed (Getting Together, Getting Past No, and others) gave over a million readers a solid theoretical understanding of the Harvard approach to reaching agreement. But for many readers, including me, reading the books and understanding the principles was one thing, while actually using them in reallife negotiations was quite another. Until now, those who wanted to practice and refine their skills had one option: take the expensive negotiation workshops offered at the Harvard Law School. Now there’s a middle path: Yes! The Interactive Negotiator by Harvard Business School Publishing. This CD-ROM program, according to the instruction booklet, “allows you to practice preparing, conducting, and reviewing a negotiation in a computer-based simulation.” It also promises to coach the user on key principles that he or she can use in actual negotiation. That’s a lot to promise for two four-inch disks, but this outstanding program delivers. The program opens with a “live” guide who introduces the program and walks you through the process. She presents the negotiation experts (including Fisher himself) who you can access via