Co-founder, Program on Negotiation
Founder, Abraham Path Initiative
Senior Fellow, Harvard Negotiation Project
Co-founder, Climate Parliament
William Ury is one of the world’s leading experts on negotiation and mediation. As the co-founder of the Program on Negotiation, he is a driving force behind many new negotiation theories and practices. Ury is the co-author with Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton of Getting to Yes, a 15-million-copy bestseller translated into more than 35 languages, and the author of several other books including the award-winning Getting to Yes with Yourself.
Over the last four decades, Ury has served as a negotiation advisor and mediator in conflicts ranging from the Cold War to ethnic and civil wars in the Middle East, Chechnya, Yugoslavia, and most recently in Colombia, where he serves as a senior advisor to President Juan Manuel Santos. In addition to teaching negotiation and mediation to tens of thousands of executives, Ury is the founder of the Abraham Path Initiative, which seeks to bring people together across cultures by opening a long-distance walking route in the Middle East that retraces the footsteps of Abraham and his family. In recognition of his work, he has received the Cloke-Millen Peacemaker Award, the Whitney North Seymour Award from the American Arbitration Association, and the Distinguished Service Medal from the Russian Parliament.
Education
B.A., Yale University
Ph.D., Harvard University
Research interests
Negotiation, dispute resolution, mediation
Selected publications
- With Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In. Penguin Books, 2011.
- Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations. Bantam, 1993.
- The Power of a Positive No: Save the Deal Save the Relationship—and Still Say No. Bantam, 2007.
- The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop. Penguin Books, 2000.
- Getting to Yes with Yourself: (and Other Worthy Opponents). HarperOne, 2015.