Understanding why you want to negotiate dramatically changes your life and the power to influence decision making. The pace of change, the global marketplace, and the unexpected connections among the people with whom you do business demand that you develop long lasting business relationships to be succesful.

Tactics, deal design, and set-up are three crucial components of the most effective negotiations. Yet many negotiators focus only on the tactical part, running the risk of undermining their own best interests. How can you negotiate more skillfully and confidently with clients, partners, and adversaries as well as with colleagues within your organization? In this Q A, James Sebenius and David Lax, authors of 3-D Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals, discuss the common mistakes of negotiators, the power of a three-dimensional approach, why negotiating is an essential skill, and where the science of negotiation is headed.

Prior to the 1980's, many companies focused their negotiation training on tactics . Although the following tactics will yield a short term result, we don't advocate their use in a business context. The reason we don't advocate their use is due to both the long term damage they will deliver to your business relationships, and the questionable ethics of using manipulative tactics. Once you have mastered the Principled Negotiation Model, the need for maneuvering to gain a small short term advantage will be made redundant. These tactics are designed to extract value out of the other side without making any value contribution or creation. They are thus Win-Lose by nature.