Getting to Yes describes how negotiation could work. Getting Past No deals with how it often does: an angry counterpart, a hard position, a flat refusal.
Ury’s breakthrough strategy has five steps:
- go to the balcony
- step to their side
- reframe instead of reject
- build them a golden bridge
- and use power to educate rather than to escalate.
Two steps connect closely to the NQ® model. Going to the balcony, taking distance before you react, is part of the third key, unlock your safety kit. Reframing, exploring the other side’s frame instead of pushing it away, is at the heart of the first key, unlock fixed positions. It is the same move I describe in Who decided this was a zero-sum game?: ask the question behind the question.
