• Business & Economics / Negotiating

A revolutionary new guide to negotiating in the face of stress, adversity, and powerlessness—from a professor of negotiation and conflict management at NYU’s Stern School of Business and Columbia’s School of International & Public Affairs.

Negotiation is hard. It’s especially hard when you enter it at a disadvantage—whether you have less information, less power, or come to the bargaining table with the pressure of knowing that the other side can afford to not make a deal at all, while you cannot.             

There are a lot of negotiation books out there. But they tend to be written for C-Suite execs, law enforcement, high-level VIPs: people who already have the weight of authority on their side. What about when you don’t hold all the cards, or even any of them? Most of us aren’t attempting to talk down armed gunmen or close multi-million-dollar deals, but we do want to squeeze the best salary out of a job offer, negotiate that extra month of free rent, and finally settle whose in-laws are hosting Thanksgiving this year.

Seth Freeman has spent two decades teaching students, business executives, and UN diplomats how to do just that. In 15 Tools to Turn the Tide, he reveals his patented method for getting the best out of truly difficult situations. With a narrative organized around the four defining principles that guide any successful negotiation—preparation, strategic planning, in-the-moment poise, and deciding whether or not to accept the offer—Freeman empowers readers with a full kit of the 15 tools necessary for success. Understandable, memorable, and groundbreaking, the tools range from Build a Swiss Army Knife for Adversity (Tool #2) to Win Warmly (Tool #8), from Become a Godzilla Whisperer (Tool #9) to Decide with Three Birds in the Bush (Tool #13).

Written especially for those of us who don’t enjoy negotiating (and who does?), 15 Tools to Turn the Tide offers a roadmap for resilience, whatever life throws at us.