Free HBS Negotiation Resource

Harvard Business School’s Baker Library has just launched Negotiate 1-2-3. It focuses on three stages of the negotiation process: openings, critical moments, and closings. The content illustrates and expands upon concepts from my book The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World.

To be clear, Negotiate 1-2-3 is not a course. (For that, check out our HBX Negotiation Mastery offering.) But it isn’t a standard text either. It includes other media—quizzes, exercises, and videos. And it’s entirely up to you how to organize your experience. You can go through it from start to finish, or simply explore stand-alone modules of special interest to you.

Each of the 27 modules also has a comment feature that enables you to interact with other users. exchanging insights and discussing questions . I’ll monitor those threads, too, offering my thoughts on negotiation issues from time to time.

Most of the modules take 20 minutes or less to complete. (Estimated times are noted at top each one.) It’s probably best to complete a module in one sitting, but they continue to be available to you whether or not you finish them.

To get a feel for Negotiate 1-2-3, I recommend diving in and sampling a module. You might try Outbursts from the Critical Moments chapters. It’s short (10 minutes), but it includes a two-part video, an interactive quiz, and some pop-up text what to do when someone explodes at the bargaining table.

If this piques your interest, go to the landing page and click on the “hamburger” in the upper right corner. A drop-down menu will show you the chapters and, underneath those, the modules under each heading. You’ll also see the Welcome and Introduction that explain how the site works and how its pieces fit together.

Just to confirm: Baker Library is providing access to Negotiate 1-2-3 without charge (for now, at least). That's eight hours of content without any fee or subscription whatsoever.

Why free? It's a work in progress and we/re eager to improve it. Your comments will be help us continue to develop and refine the site. Please use the feedback tool to tell us about the value of its content to you, as well as the site’s design and functionality.

I’m grateful to Baker Library Director Debra Wallace for inviting me to undertake this project. And I express hearty thanks to Michael Hemment, head of the Library’s Research Services, who generously contributed his creativity, energy, and support right from the start. I deeply appreciate his help and his friendship.

We all hope that this resource will be helpful to you as you prepare for, manage, and learn from negotiations. We look forward to refining the site so that it meets your needs.