The Yes Book by Clive Rich a review #Negotiation

Title of Book:            The Yes Book

Sub-title:     The art of better negotiation

Author : Clive Rich

Publisher : Virgin Books (2013)

ISBN:  978-0-75-354109-8

Genre:    Negotiating skills 

Style:  A structured guide to negotiating written by a practitioner

Contents page: Clear Introduction. Core of Book is in three parts 1 Attitude, 2 Process and 3 Behaviour -  23 chapters with page numbers

Index:  13 pages  . Excellent for those of us who like to dip in and out and go back for the golden nuggets. Comprehensive Bibliography of 4 pages from "WL Adar to JM Zubeck" !!!

Flick through eye appeal: Great cartoons by Kathryn Lamb . Good  sized type face Shaded blocks for the stories.

Time for a breather Stops : None but each chapter is bite sized with well written. Keep a pencil  / highlighter pen in hand. Take time out to pause and reflect

Golden Nuggets: His description of negotiating variables as coinage and currency in a negotiation I found very helpful. ; " from a battle of wills into a quest for mutual advancement  "; "walkaway,"; "WATNA"; and " BATNA "; the Christopher Wren  St Paul's Cathedral Pillars tale, the sisters and the Orange  story and Aladdin and the Genie fable. 

Topic Summary:   1 Attitude, 2 Process and 3 Behaviour -

The 6 key components for a negotiation, the 4 negotiating attitudes 11 sources of bargaining power, 7 stages of negotiation, a dozen bargaining choices, 16 Negotiating behaviours ,22 different ways to deal with 'tough guys', negotiating with different cultures

War Stories: aplenty but have no fear. Some are from Clive Rich's considerable experience both also others' stories are told. All stories used are relevant , not too long and illustrate the learning points of the text.

Illustration: Some presentation 'PowerPoint' type slides in black and white -print small and too detailed and I found difficult to read.Should there be a second edition ( in my opinion there should) the printers could clean up / re-do the presentation slides used. The Cartoons by Kathryn Lamb  are fun. I wished there were a few more - but I like the visual.

Quotes:  "..If you miss out on preparation, you miss out  " , "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered ",  "Small hinges can open big doors " , "

Short Review:

I doubt master negotiator Clive Rich ever leaves much to chance in negotiation.  His negotiation guide book is structured for what a bride of negotiation needs to wear for her wedding . (Grooms, best men, proud fathers , mothers-in-law and friends could learn from this book also.) We learn what skills to wed in all kinds of negotiation environments from "The Yes Book".

Something old

something new,

something borrowed,

something blue,

and a silver sixpence in her shoe.

Something old:  Clive Rich draws on basics like NLP,  Maslow, and  Psychometric  approaches like Myers Briggs / DISC 'style'. But his approach is nicely simplified and reworked into practical negotiation dialogue you can use. Those familiar with such systems may need to take time to adjust to the labels and orientation from previous learning to the sixteen types Mr Rich employs but I like his approach. Body language in terms of Word, Music and Dance and KAV approaches are also drawn upon by the author.

Something new:  Mr Rich commissioned research from YouGov and CEBR. The data from this is eye opening. He emphasises the move from confrontational negotiation to future partnership collaborative negotiation. I find his writing fresh and contemporary for toady's commercial scene.

Something borrowed:   refers/defers to Robert Cialdini book Influence (another excellent book by the way) Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow. Goldman and  Shapiro's ~The Psychology of Negotiations in the 21st Century

Something blue: Neil Diamond's new song is called 'Something Blue'. Much of Clive Rich's work comes from negotiating in the music and entertainment rights arena. I have no idea whether he has dealt with Neil Diamond but he has for Simon Cowell's  SYCOtv as well as Apple, SanDisk, Sony, Vodafone and Yahoo. His experience of 'team negotiation' in particular, will be of particular interest to those in Key Account Development work.

and a silver sixpence in her shoe:  the author regularly reminds the reader to go to his website, but unlike an irritating stone in your shoe,  it is  really a  silver sixpence of a  treasure trove of information on his negotiation blog posts. So don't get huffy - do as Clive asks you !

Beautifully succinct final chapter which summarises the key points of the book. If only more business authors did this

From our negotiating  equivalent in commercial courting of clients to the corresponding submission of industrial 'marriage' proposals, to  our business partnership 'marriage vows'  made , renewed and celebrated, the one word that can change a life and the only one you want to hear in any negotiation ( as Clive Rich's book explains) 

is YES.

Related sites and links

www.cliverich.com

Making your negotiations ap peeling