In a recent article published in the Washington Post, Dr. William Ury ^[1], co-founder of the Program on Negotiation, suggests that ^[1] Republicans and Democrats hammering out a deal on the national debt ceiling could benefit from the experience of negotiators.

Professional negotiators know that certain tactics can backfire in tense situations.  Issuing ultimatums, publicly criticizing your counterpart, and other hard-line bargaining tactics are frequently counter-productive, yet in the current political climate in Washington D.C., these tactics have become commonplace.  Ury, co-author of Getting to Yes,  feels that lawmakers could do better.  “There are tried and proven ways to deal with difficult negotiations.  Why not apply them?”

To read the Washington Post article, click here ^[2].

William L. Ury co-founded Harvard’s Program on Negotiation and is currently a Senior Fellow of the Harvard Negotiation Project. He is the author of The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No & Still Get to Yes (2007) and co-author (with Roger Fisher) of Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, an eight-million-copy bestseller translated into over thirty languages.

For more information on Dr. Ury, read his full bio here ^[1].