Beyond Reason

Even if you have the best intentions heading into a conversation, powerful emotions can easily derail the entire interaction. You headed in wanting to stay calm, but something your spouse, co-worker, or fellow church member said triggered your hot button surfacing powerful emotions. Soon, voices are raised and feelings are hurt. How do you manage powerful emotions when they surface? If you’ve never read a book by the creators of the Harvard Negotiation Project—the leading experts in mediation—this is a must-read by experts who have had to manage the most difficult and potentially explosive conversations imaginable. They remind us that… show more.

I am an emotional person – and a professional negotiator and advisor. What I love about this book is that the authors helped me see how one doesn’t have to detract from the other. All of us make decisions based in part on our emotions; we can’t just banish them from negotiations (or other difficult choices we make). Just like we can negotiate more effectively when we understand the interests underlying someone’s bargaining position, we can deal with emotions more effectively when we understand the core concerns that drive them. Beyond Reason helped me do that, and integrate an appreciation… show more.

Prior to Beyond Reason, the conventional wisdom was to keep emotions out of negotiation. That, as Fisher and Shapiro showed us, was not possible. They discuss five core emotions that play a central role in negotiation and must not be ignored to achieve success.