"The Harvard negotiator who reframed deal-making as joint problem-solving."
Roger Fisher was a Harvard Law School professor and the co-author of Getting to Yes, one of the most influential negotiation books ever written, which introduced the concept of 'principled negotiation' as an alternative to positional bargaining. Rather than treating negotiation as a battle to be won through pressure or concession, Fisher argued that the best outcomes come from separating people from the problem, focusing on underlying interests rather than stated positions, generating multiple options before deciding, and insisting on using objective, fair criteria to evaluate any agreement. Fisher's framework, developed through decades of work at Harvard's Program on Negotiation, reframed negotiation as a collaborative problem-solving exercise rather than a zero-sum contest, and remains foundational reading in business, law, and diplomacy.
Our in-depth summaries and reviews of his work
The Harvard Negotiation Project's principled negotiation framework — separate people from problems, focus on interests, invent options, and use your BATNA.
Read Summary →Fisher argued that effective negotiators address the substantive issue directly while treating the other party with respect, rather than letting personal friction contaminate the negotiation itself.
Fisher's core insight is that stated positions often obscure the underlying interests driving them, and that real agreement is found by identifying and addressing those deeper interests.
Fisher advocated evaluating any proposed agreement against fair, independent standards — market value, expert opinion, precedent — rather than whoever can apply the most pressure.
"People listen better if they feel that you have understood them. They tend to think that those who understand them are intelligent and sympathetic people whose own opinions may be worth listening to."— Getting to Yes
"The ability to see the situation as the other side sees it, as difficult as it may be, is one of the most important skills a negotiator can possess."— Getting to Yes
"An open mind is not an empty one."— Getting to Yes
The Harvard Negotiation Project's principled negotiation framework — separate people from problems, focus on interests, invent options, and use your BATNA.
