Winning from Within: A Breakthrough Method for Leading, Living, and Lasting Change

Some fellow reviewers on Amazon have criticized Winning from Within because it is not a negotiating book. That is true, but not a cause for criticism. Winning from Within is not a book that is particularly directed to how to conduct a contract negotiation, how to buy a house or car, or how to sell your business. If you are looking for such a book, I will tell you a secret - the best negotiating book I have read is Smart Negotiating: How to Make Good Deals in the Real World, by James C. Freund, a since retired superstar mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Skadden. Despite Freund’s background negotiating mega-M&A deals, his book is focused on everyday life negotiations and is superbly practical and in my opinion even more insightful than Getting to Yes, the negotiating book by the founders of the Harvard-affiliated Negotiation Project who are/were Erica Ariel Fox’s mentors.Erica Ariel Fox’s Winning from Within, in contrast, is billed accurately as “A Breakthrough Method for Leading, Living, and Lasting Change.” The author focuses on self-awareness as a means to regulate one’s behavior to achieve optimal results. The book presents a helpful framework of varying personality traits, motivations and perspectives which it maps to the types of senior executives of a corporation - the visionary “dreamer” akin to the Chief Executive Officer, the strategic “thinker” akin to the Chief Financial Officer, the get it done “warrior” akin to the Chief Operating Officer and the people person “lover” akin to the Human Resources Head. Each of us, the author asserts, has all four traits within us, although one may be overemphasized to the detriment of others. The author posits that one should balance these traits through self-awareness and self-bargaining. This is achieved through our inner “lookout” which we can train to alert us when we take an unbalanced or misdirected approach, our “captain” which regulates the everyday manifestation of each trait, and our “voyager” which helps us chart our long-term direction in life.I found Winning from Within to be helpful in causing me to be more thoughtful and introspective in my business and personal lives, including for example in navigating towards a better result rather than trying to force a perceived “correct” resolution against another's wishes. I also recommend the book for others, especially if you are not self-aware (which ironically is hard to know of course). We are entering an era in which histrionics and unbalanced behavior in business increasingly is no longer acceptable. The partner who routinely yells at all his or her junior associates will, on average, not be as successful as one who is able to control his or her emotions in a productive manner. The negotiator who always aggressive will not be as successful as one who is able to equally bring to bear aggressive and collaborative negotiating demeanors when warranted. The same is increasingly true for interpersonal relationships outside the business world.The Kindle version of the book is well formatted and flows quickly. If any fault is to be found with the book, I believe it is that the author spends a little too much time quoting famous people.

Getting To Yes, the landmark book by Roger Fisher and Bill Ury, came as a revelation when I first discovered it long ago. I know few models of human behavior that are as elegant and as useful for enabling people to get more of what they want out of life. Being "soft on the people, hard on the problem," finding people's underlying interests...GTY is my operating software for negotiating the challenges of living, big and small, business and personal. I apply it on a daily basis, I've taught many others to apply it, and I'm not alone: Getting to Yes is one of the best selling business books of all time.Erica Fox was a student and protégé of Fisher's (1922-2012), and she sees her book, Winning From Within, as a next step in the evolution of the GTY approach. She clearly has the chops: She's developed her model over 20 years of teaching negotiators at the highest levels of government and business.Winning From Within focuses on the internal negotiation, the aspects of ourselves that, when accessed skillfully, enable us to most effectively accomplish our goals in the world. Fox describes what she calls "inner negotiators"--most notably our capacity to take action, to develop vision and goals, to provide analysis, and to make connections and build relationships--and guides us to recognize, understand and utilize these capacities skillfully and flexibly.I already find myself using her model to understand and improve my life. When I review the pros and cons of a consulting opportunity, I'm using what she calls my "Thinker." When I reached out to my neighbors to plan a block party, that was my Lover. When I chip away at the large writing project I'm working on, or stand my ground when a contractor appears to be taking advantage of me, that's my "Warrior."Winning From Within is well written, highly readable, and filled with compelling business and personal stories to illustrate the model. I appreciated that the Ms. Fox also shares some of her own challenges. My favorite section, the epilogue, is written with particular open-heartedness and a belief in our ability to do better.It's too early for me to tell whether Winning From Within will reach the heights of GTY. But I find myself using it, which says a lot. Erica Fox has created a model that pushes the bar higher and helps us be even more effective as negotiators. Her mentor would be proud.

Useful tools!

Livro com conceitos e fundamentos interessantes. Poderia ser um pouco mais objetivo na minha opinião, pois há vários cases e historias. Mas vale a leitura!

A must read for anyone wanting to negotiate deals. I loved this book.

Engaging read

Mi è piaciuto molto l’approccio umile e graduale che accompagna chi legge in un viaggio dentro se stesso. Nessuna ricetta, nessuna soluzione, ma strumenti semplici da utilizzare ogni giorno per sapere dove si è nel contesto sociale e dentro se stessi.

Enjoy reading