Max Mednik
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Readings and musings

Notes on Getting More by Stuart Diamond

5/4/2014

7 Comments

 
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Google's internal negotiation course uses the book Getting More by Stuart Diamond, so I figured it was worth a read. It was alright but definitely not the most useful book on negotiation I've read. I much more prefer the classic Getting to Yes, which was used in Stanford's and UCLA Anderson's negotiation classes.

I found Getting More to be way too heavy on anecdotes and stories. This was nice from the perspective of seeing many examples of the techniques in action, but it was overwhelming how many examples there indeed were in comparison to concrete explanation of the techniques and how to learn them. The book claimed at the beginning it would teach a highly disciplined and structured approach to preparing and creating a "List" and using techniques from a wallet card one can download, and I expected that explanation of all this would be the bulk of the book. Instead, this was glossed over in one chapter with barely any low-level explanation, and the rest of the book was devoted to applications throughout all fields of life from parenting to government. Also, I would've loved to read a lot more of the actual dialogues and transcripts of the example negotiations; instead, I read a sample phrase here and there but mostly just how a negotiation was concluded or a problem solved (instead of the full gory details of how the negotiator got there, which is what I would've preferred).

All that criticism aside, I did get some very useful bits of information from the book. I liked the emphasis on and many examples of trading items of unequal value and seeing the pictures in other people's heads. These two concepts seem very powerful.

Below are my full notes. I think the book was a nice complement to more structured negotiation reading and courses, but I don't think it's enough of a standalone guide to serve as a first book or introduction to the subject.

7 Comments
Lawson
6/6/2015 08:53:46 am

Thanks for posting your notes. I agree with your impression of the book. It felt like the author didn't develop the concepts, but launched into stories and examples too quickly. It is not quite stream of consciousness style writing, but fairly close: almost as if it were outlined on a napkin then just talked into a voice recorded by someone with the gift of gab. There is value in the book, but there is a lot of glossed over material. I'm signed up for one of his workshops. It will be interesting to see how he comes across in person.

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li link
4/12/2016 10:14:58 am

I completely agree with your feedback on this book. There were a lot of examples of outcomes, but not enough information was provided on the step by step process to get to those outcomes. The examples provided made the book an easy, enjoyable read, and encouraged the readers to actually take on some simple negotiations in their every day lives.

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Hudson
11/22/2016 04:50:44 am

I enjoyed the book as an introduction to negotiations. This book presents a new picture for people who have not previously used negotiation skills and who need to grow in the concepts of why someone may want to become a more effective communicator in general, in life, and in business. His higher stakes illustrations communicate a great deal about the Why of it's importance. I would like to go on and read some of the other books discussed in the comments previous to mine. Thank you for your opinions on all.

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kerkukli
5/20/2017 05:05:25 am

reading this book is hell>>>>y couldnt he just tell us what to and leave us to practice ourselves ok maybe tell us what the result should look like but nothing more this book stinks

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Jay
10/15/2017 12:13:05 pm

Thanks for the summary! I would look at the book Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss. He hits on similar tactics, but goes more in depth into the topics and provides a lot of the 'dialog' used in the negotiation process. He also refutes a lot of the outdated tactics presented in some of the 'classics' like Getting To Yes, which has a tendency to be more academic than practical in real world situations.

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Max
10/15/2017 04:32:38 pm

Nice! Will check that out. Thanks.

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Raju Balakrishnan link
11/1/2018 09:03:45 am

Thank you for sharing the time, I bought the audio book to listen while I drive. Could not take the notes, these notes helped to make my own notes.

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