The best 39 Negotiations books

How To Talk to Anyone (1998) is an indispensable guide to improving your conversations and becoming more graceful and effective in your social interactions – no matter the situation. Leil Lowndes offers readers a treasure trove of techniques and tips that will help any socially awkward individual gain more confidence in workplace environments, meetings, their private lives and at parties.

Influence (1984) explains in detail the fundamental principles of persuasion. How do you get people to say yes? How do other people get you to say yes? How are you manipulated by sleek salesmen, clever marketing folks and sneaky confidence tricksters? These blinks will help you understand the psychology behind their techniques, enabling you to unleash your own persuasive powers, while also defending against their tactics of manipulation.

Never Split the Difference (2016) is your guide to getting what you want. Drawing on FBI strategies, it offers hands-on advice for how to negotiate your way to success – whether it’s in the office, the home, or a hostage standoff. 

We’ve all been in situations where rational discussions get quickly out of hand, and Crucial Conversations investigates the root causes of this problem. You’ll learn techniques to handle such situations and shape them into becoming positive and solutions-oriented, while preventing your high-stakes conversations from turning into shouting matches.

Think Again (2021) examines the science behind changing your mind – and persuading others to change theirs. It explores the biases and assumptions that we bring to our decision-making, and outlines how individuals and organizations can build a mindset of lifelong curiosity.

From small talk with the barista to water-cooler chat with colleagues, we spend a lot of our time talking — yet very few of us understand the science that underpins how we talk. Talk (2018) breaks down the fundamental building blocks and typical patterns of conversational encounters to reveal the structures and strategies behind what we say, and offers a blueprint for how we can learn to talk and listen more effectively.

Getting to Yes (1981) is considered the reference for successful negotiations. It presents proven tools and techniques that can help you to resolve any conflict and find win-win solutions.

Influence is your Superpower (2022) is a deep dive on influence: how it works, why it's important, and how you can wield it for ethical, positive results. It explores how influence operates by drawing on insights from cognitive science, linguistics, market research, and more, empowering readers to unlock their own natural powers of influence.

You Can Negotiate Anything (1980) shows that negotiations occur in every walk of life and that it is vital to have the skills and understanding to deal with those situations. The book outlines the key factors affecting negotiation success, as well as ways of negotiating for win-win solutions.

Difficult Conversations (1999) takes a look at what makes a conversation difficult and why we often try to avoid them. It outlines how to correctly approach and maneuver through tough topics to build positive and meaningful relationships.

The Art of Negotiation offers a radical approach not found in most books on negotiation: no two negotiations are the same, and thus there is no silver-bullet strategy to negotiation. Rather, it offers insights on how to develop the skills to succeed in dynamic and unpredictable negotiations.

The Bullseye Principle (2018) is a practical guide to confident, clear communication in contemporary business settings. Covering everything from personal branding to inspiring others and running meetings effectively, these blinks will show you how to deliver your lines with style and win over your audience.

Getting More (2010) lays out precisely how to negotiate your way toward a fuller, more satisfying life. The strategies and tools described in this book can be used in any situation, from finding a happier outcome when sparring with a partner to convincing your boss that you’re long overdue for a raise.

The 11 Laws of Likability (2011) is a guide to networking built on one simple fact: people do business with people they like. These blinks will explain how to discover your most likable characteristics, start conversations and keep them going, and make a lasting positive impression on people.

Can We Talk? (2021) outlines the seven communication principles essential for successfully navigating difficult conversations in the workplace, be it asking for a promotion, delivering negative feedback, or resolving a professional conflict.

Just Listen (2009) combines time-tested persuasion and listening techniques with new methods to help you get your message across to anybody. By learning how to be a better listener, how the brain works and how people think, you’ll be able to motivate people to do what you want because you’ll better understand their needs.

Secrets of Power Negotiating (1987) reveals the tricks of the master negotiator’s trade. Based on time-tested principles that are aimed at finding win-win solutions for both parties of any given negotiation, it teaches the tactics and strategies for effectively negotiating deals in a wide range of industries and situations. Whether you’re buying a product, selling a service or just trying to reach an agreement with your partner, you’ll be able to use power negotiator Roger Dawson’s secrets to negotiate with confidence and success. 

5 Voices (2016) is a handbook designed to help you communicate more effectively in your professional and personal life. To do this, leadership experts Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram argue, you need to get a handle on what type of communicator you are. These blinks outline five communicative strategies and provide a wealth of tips and tricks that’ll help you get your point across without getting in peoples’ faces.

Never Split the Difference (2016) is your guide to negotiation. Based on the extensive FBI work of Chris Voss, the authors offer up hands-on advice about how to negotiate your way to success, whether it’s in the office, the home, or a hostage stand-off.

The Eight Essential People Skills for Project Management (2018) is a hands-on guide designed to help team leaders diagnose and solve people problems in today’s increasingly horizontal workplaces. The fruit of years of first-hand experience, Zachary Wong’s playbook for effective leadership is packed full of actionable advice on how to boost motivation, confront underperformers and push through fear of failure.

The Science of Selling (2016) is a detailed handbook on the science of making a sale. Combining insights from neuroscience and social psychology, this guide presents an evidence-based approach to making a convincing pitch.

Pitch Anything (2011) introduces a unique, new method for pitching ideas. Through psychology, neuroscience and personal anecdotes, Klaff explains the tactics and techniques needed to successfully pitch anything to anyone.

Verbal Judo (1993) is your guide to effective communication, from a police officer’s perspective. These blinks explain why some common communication techniques could be holding you back and why others may be better suited to achieving your communication goals.

Pitch Perfect presents advice and principles that can help anyone to communicate more effectively. It teaches you how to present an argument or story with confidence, in a memorable way, and how to make your points with more precision. The author introduces seven principles that will help you to use exactly the right tone in both your professional and private life.

Get Hired Now! (2021) provides a step-by-step guide to finding a job and getting hired. It covers how to find the right job vacancies, write a first-class résumé that gets past the robots, dress and perform well at interviews, and how to negotiate that job offer!

Love Is the Killer App (2003) is a guide to career success in changing times. The secret? Love and compassion. These blinks explain how love – in the business sense – can help you be smart, generous and compassionate while achieving your goals in both life and work.

Objections (2019) explores the secrets behind turning around common sales objections. Drawing on insights from both the business world and psychology, it shows how you can transform even the most reluctant prospect into an eager buyer. 

Split the Pie (2022) reveals a new approach to how everyone should be negotiating. While negotiations often bring out the worst in people, it doesn’t have to be this way. By employing the “pie” approach, you can enter into any negotiation with the confidence that you’ll end up with your fair share.

Human Hacking (2021) is a guide to the art of ethical social engineering. Using the same tools of psychology and influence deployed by security hackers, it demonstrates how to boost social interactions in daily life. It covers a range of tips on how to adjust your natural communication tendencies to steer encounters to your advantage, with practical tools on how to influence others using empathy and compassion.

Flip The Script (2019) helps you up your sales and negotiation game. Sales is all about the art of persuasion but we all know that nobody likes to feel manipulated. In order to sell your idea or product in today’s world, your buyers need to feel like they’re making that decision on their own terms. Flip The Script provides techniques that allow you to subtly convince anyone that your idea is the right one.

Bargaining for Advantage (1999) is a guide to becoming a more efficient and intelligent negotiator. Combining insights from negotiation research with tried-and-tested tactics by some of the world’s leading business experts, this is a book for anyone who wants to improve their bargaining skills.

Facilitating Breakthrough (2021) dives into how people can go about solving their most intractable problems. By using an approach honed over decades, you can learn how to remove obstacles from conflicts and make progress toward resolution.

Humble Inquiry (2013) sets out the basic principles of the art of asking the right questions in the right way. It examines how your approach to inquiry affects your relationships at the office, your ability to get quality work completed and, ultimately, your success as a leader.

Radical Collaboration (2004) offers invaluable methods to help you build effective and high-functioning collaborative relationships, as well as strategies to manage any kind of conflict that you might run into. At the heart of these methods are five skills that can turn anyone into a better teammate and turn any organization into an efficient and productive partnership.

The Yes Book (2013) is your guide to negotiating. These blinks explain how modern negotiating is all about cooperation and offer actionable advice that will keep you advancing your goals during each step of the bargaining process.

Talk Lean will teach you how to express your thoughts in a direct, candid, yet courteous manner. The author shares effective, easy-to-apply tips for having a productive conversation that helps achieve your goals.

Get Better (2017) offers valuable insight on how to build and maintain better relationships at work. With a wealth of practical advice that you can put into action today, this is a useful guide, both to nurturing important relationships and to avoiding all the typical pitfalls that can cause trouble in the workplace.

The Bartering Mindset (2019) details a method for negotiation that applies the mind-set of bartering economies of the past, in which people traded goods and services to get what they needed, to today’s monetary economy. By breaking down the bartering mind-set into a five-step process, these blinks will help you cultivate a more sophisticated approach to negotiating.

Think you could do with some help from the people who have to smooth out the thorniest political situations of our time? Getting to Yes with Yourself (2015) draws on professional mediator William Ury’s impressive résumé as peace broker in conflicts from the Midwest to the Middle East. Learn how to solve personal clashes more effectively, improve the important relationships in your life and gain more positive influence over yourself and others.