Getting Past No

Two of the ideas you’ll keep

The Clif summary of Getting Past No pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first two.

1. Cooperation is blocked by five barriers: **your own reaction**, **their emotions**, **their position**, **their dissatisfaction** (they don't see how yes serves them), and **their power** (they think they can win by force). Breakthrough negotiation is **indirect**, it works around these barriers by doing the opposite of your natural impulse.
2. The first move is always internal: **Go to the Balcony**. Mentally step back, **name the game** the other side is playing, and buy yourself time, pause, rewind the tape, take a break, so you respond deliberately instead of reacting with the three natural but self-defeating impulses: striking back, giving in, or breaking off.

The other 5 — and the full 11-minute summary — are in the app.

What’s inside: 8 chapters

The whole summary runs about 11 minutes, read or listened to.

1. The Breakthrough Strategy: Working Around Barriers
2. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
3. Step 1: Don't React: Go to the Balcony
4. Step 2: Don't Argue: Step to Their Side
5. Step 3: Don't Reject: Reframe
6. Step 4: Don't Push: Build Them a Golden Bridge
7. Step 5: Don't Escalate: Use Power to Educate
8. Bring Them to Their Senses, Not Their Knees