The Power of a Positive No: Save The Deal Save The Relationship and Still Say No
Twenty-five years after the publication of the bestsellingGetting to Yes, Ury addresses the other side  of the coin, but his version of "No" is not a simple rejection. "A Positive No  begins with Yes and ends with Yes," he says, because it defines the nay-sayer's  self-interests and paves the way for a continued relationship. Ury delineates  this "Yes! No. Yes?" pattern recursively, so that each step is itself another  three-part process. In addition to drawing on his own experiences as a  negotiator for conflicts in countries like Chechnya and Venezuela, and the  historical examples of activists like Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma  Gandhi, he shows how his principles can be used in the home and the workplace.  He even throws in a few literary precedents, citing Melville'sBartleby the Scrivener, whose repetition of  the phrase "I would prefer not to" is cited as a "simple and admirable" method  of polite refusal. Some of Ury's advice, like describing how another's actions  make you feel rather than attacking the action, may strike the more cynical  minded as touchy-feely, but his reminders to consider the other person's  perspective while asserting your own position create a clear, unambiguous path  to win-win situations.(Mar. 6)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.