3-d Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals

411 Pages·2006·3.04 MB·English

by  David A. Lax

Praise for 3-D Negotiation from corporate leaders:
“For many years, we searched for just the right firm and individual to find the
best approach to enhance our senior executives’ negotiating skills, and after
endless presentations of tired win-win and win-lose clichés, we began working
closely with Dr. Jim Sebenius. His 3-D approach is in use at many levels of the
Estée Lauder Companies with excellent results. This down-to-earth book is
packed with striking examples which help us to put his methods into practice.”
—William Lauder, President and CEO, the Estée Lauder Companies

“Following the clear and innovative concept of 3-D Negotiation has contributed
invaluably . . . to many agreements that are critical to Novartis. These deals
must sometimes accomplish conflicting objectives, be sustainable, and enhance
relationships.”
—Daniel Vasella, MD, Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG

“Lax and Sebenius understand better than anyone that the key to successful and
sustainable agreements is to focus on those activities that take place away from
the negotiating table, well before face-to-face tactics come into play. 3-D
Negotiation is a brilliant and rigorous exposition of key bargaining strategy
techniques from two masters of negotiation. Building on their previous
reputation, the authors analyze recent corporate and diplomatic experience to
provide new insights into the field. I have used their advice to great success in
the complex health care environment.”
—Paul F. Levy, President and CEO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
“3-D Negotiation is simply the most sophisticated and practical guide to
negotiation ever written. Its many fascinating case studies show you exactly how
to apply its powerful method.”
—Mathias Doepfner, CEO, Axel Springer AG (one of Europe’s top media
companies)

Praise for 3-D Negotiation from the financial elite:
“Lax and Sebenius capture what I’ve seen great deal makers take years to
perfect. Silver tongues and tactics can be a sideshow. As chess masters know,
success at the table flows from advance preparation and strategically
positioning your pieces to maximize leverage.”
—Stephen Friedman, former Chairman and Senior Partner,
Goldman Sachs & Co.; Chair, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board;
former Special Assistant to the President of the United States for Economic
Affairs;
and Director, White House National Economic Council

“We faced some of the firm’s most challenging and delicate negotiations during
its startup period. Over those early years, we worked daily with Jim Sebenius,
who was often very helpful with critical deals at key moments. He later returned
to Harvard, armed with this intensive experience, to make the theory and
practice of effective negotiation his life work. He and his colleague, David Lax,
have now blended messy reality with elegant analysis to produce a first-rate
piece of work. Readers facing tough deals, along with generations of Harvard
MBAs and executives, will benefit greatly from this lucid book and its highly
relevant case studies. I recommend it highly.”
—Peter G. Peterson, Senior Chairman and Cofounder, The Blackstone Group
(one of the world’s largest private equity firms)
“I have worked directly with the authors on some of the most challenging
negotiations of my career. Their 3-D approach was important in helping to
deliver hundreds of millions of pounds of value for shareholders.”
—Philip Yea, CEO, 3i Group plc (an FTSE 100 venture capital and private
equity company that has invested more than £26 billion in more than fourteen
thousand businesses)

Praise for 3-D Negotiation from thought leaders on negotiation:
“In negotiation, the moves you make away from the table are as important as
any moves you can make at the table. Nowhere has this insight been more
brilliantly and practically presented than in the 3-D negotiation method
developed here by David Lax and James Sebenius. This is a landmark
contribution, valuable for any negotiator. My hat is off to them!”
—William Ury, coauthor of Getting to Yes, author of Getting Past No

“At last, practical advice on how to overcome obstacles that prevent us from
getting to yes.”
—Roger Fisher, coauthor of Getting to Yes

“Every so often, a book comes along that sheds entirely new light on an old
subject. Most negotiation books, my own included, focus too much on tactics at
the table. Lax and Sebenius certainly draw on their extensive deal experience to
offer plenty of battle-tested advice on tactics. Yet their striking new book opens
up two new dimensions. Their chapters on the art and science of deal design go
well beyond anything yet written on just how to create value on a lasting basis,
including both the letter and spirit of the deal. And there is simply nothing like
their systematic development of the art and science of moves away from table to
set up the most promising possible situation for face-to-face tactics. Twenty
years ago, Lax and Sebenius coined the phrase “creating and claiming value”
and changed the negotiation field by making its implications the cornerstone of
their first book. I predict that 3-D Negotiation will do it again.”
—Howard Raiffa, Frank P. Ramsey Professor (Emeritus) of Managerial
Economics, Harvard Business School and John F. Kennedy School of
Government, author of The Art and Science of Negotiation and Negotiation
Analysis, and coauthor of Smart Choices

“Lax and Sebenius provide scholars and frontline negotiators with new and
important insight in 3-D Negotiation. The authors, influenced by their extensive
deal experience and strong analytic backgrounds, provide a clever new
organization of issues that negotiators need to consider in important, complex
negotiations. Lax and Sebenius highlight aspects on the negotiation process too
often ignored or given insufficient attention by other authors—moves away from
the table to set up and reset the negotiation most favorably. The result is both
original and powerful.”
—Max H. Bazerman, Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration,
Harvard Business School, and coauthor of Negotiating Rationally

“Twenty years ago, The Manager as Negotiator by Lax and Sebenius raised the
bar for negotiation theory and practice. With 3-D Negotiation, they’ve done it
again. With its highly original focus on away-from-the-table ‘setup’ moves and
sophisticated prescriptions on value-creating deal designs, 3-D Negotiation
provides an innovative analytical framework that will prove indispensable for
those seeking practical negotiation advice.”
—Robert H. Mnookin, Williston Professor of Law,
Chair, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, and
coauthor of Beyond Winning and Barriers to Conflict Resolution
“Finally, the negotiation book we’ve been waiting for—sophisticated, practical,
multidimensional, and effective in the real world of commercial deals and
disputes. Lax and Sebenius avoid the one-dimensional approach of the chest-
thumpers, game-theorists, and idealists and demonstrate how the best
negotiation results can be achieved by any serious bargainer who takes the time
think through the problem, prepare, and apply a complete set of strategies and
tactics. This is a giant step forward in the negotiation field, but also a
magnificent contribution to those of us who work in the middle between
negotiators who too often fail to find the deal or the best deal.”
—Eric D. Green, Professor of Law, Boston University; successful mediator in
the United States v. Microsoft antitrust case and many other complex disputes;
and Cofounder and Principal, Resolutions, LLC and EnDispute, Inc. (now
JAMS)
3-D Negotiation
Powerful Tools to Change the Game in
Your Most Important Deals