Ibdaa Bi Laa | Jim Camp

How many times over the past two decades have you read or heard the phrase “win-win”? Thousands of times I think. I've heard it enough, I know it. The phrase has become so popular in our culture that it is the only acceptable form of personal communication of any kind. In the business world, the appeal of this phrase is due to the saying that no company has the right to take over a market just because it has a strong and dominant position. We believe that mutual success - mutually beneficial success - is lasting success. All this sounds good, so who is this crazed person who can refuse that win-win solutions are the model to use in negotiation? Well, I refuse. Based on my nearly 20 years of experience as a negotiation coach, I believe win-win solutions as the basis for a good negotiation are highly misleading, whether in business, personal life or elsewhere. This book and my system should be seen as a rejection of win-win solutions of all kinds. Among the various ideas in my system that I have chosen as my title is the phrase "Begin with No," chosen to underscore explicitly my vehement disapproval of win-win solutions, a word that implicitly invites you to say yes as quickly as possible, and by any means possible. This kind of negotiation is the worst possible way to get the best deal available. In fact, it will kill you