Most negotiation books focus on what happens at the table. Lax and Sebenius add two more dimensions: the design of the deal, and the setup of the negotiation away from the table. Who should be involved? In what order? What happens if there is no deal? Their message is that many negotiations are won or lost before the first conversation, because the setup was wrong.
This is exactly the territory of the fourth key of the NQ® model, shape the game, and of the game architect, the inner figure who asks who defined the game and whether it is the right one. If you recognize the feeling of negotiating hard inside a structure that never worked in your favor, this book helps you step back and redesign it.
