Adopted from “Without Conditions:  The Case for Negotiating With the Enemy” by Deepak Malhotra. is Associate Professor at Harvard Business School and a co-author of Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond.

For the full article, visit Foreign Affairs.

Diplomacy appears ready to make a comeback. The United States, after years of … read more »

What would you do if someone threatened you? Strike back? Run away? Beg for mercy? Try to negotiate?

Last April, The New York Times in effect held a gun to the heads of Boston Globe employees – twice. The confrontation, say experts at the Harvard Program on Negotiation, offers valuable lessons in handling high-risk, high-stakes situations.

Background: Sixteen years earlier, The Times … read more »

Upset by a delay in the delivery of one of your products, a longtime buyer threatens to turn to the media unless you meet his extreme demands. Not only is the relationship in jeopardy, but your company’s reputation seems to be as well. What should you do?

Before you make a decision, let’s explore another realm of negotiation advice for an … read more »

Hostage negotiators stress the importance of discussing the “drill”—goals, ground rules, and operating principles—with their team before beginning talks with a hostage taker.

Such negotiation teams are likely to commit to working together as slowly as needed to resolve a standoff. This type of agreement can serve to head off sudden actions from team members. It also helps the group present … read more »

Upset by a delay in the delivery of one of your products, a longtime buyer threatens to turn to the media unless you meet his extreme demands. Not only is the relationship in jeopardy, but your company’s reputation seems to be as well. What should you do?

Let’s explore another relm of negotiation advice for an answer: hostage negotiatons. Before you … read more »

Does negotiation have a place in crisis management? Many public relations experts would argue no. When a company is confronted with negative publicity, they are advised to reveal as little as possible and denounce their attackers claim. This advice ignores the fact that what an angry public wants is to be heard.

After stranding thousands of passengers in planes on the … read more »

Jamil Mahuad, former mayor of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, was elected president of Ecuador in 1998. When he took office, the country was on high alert. Troops from Ecuador and Peru were poised at the border, ready for battle. For 200 years, the border had been in dispute and fighting broke out regularly. And there was also a long tradition of … read more »