Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict [9780063286900]

Overview

The author of the world’s best-selling book on negotiation draws on his nearly fifty years of experience and knowledge grappling with the world’s toughest conflicts to offer a way out of the seemingly impossible problems of our time.

Conflict is increasing everywhere, threatening everything we hold dear—from our families to our democracy, from our workplaces to our world. In nearly every area of society, we are fighting more and collaborating less, especially over crucial problems that demand solutions.

With this groundbreaking guide to conflict resolution, bestselling author and international negotiator William Ury shares a new “path to possible”—time-tested practices that will help readers unlock their power to constructively engage and transform conflict. Part memoir, part manual, part manifesto, Possible offers stories and sage advice on leadership and negotiation from Ury’s nearly 50 years of experience on the front lines of some of the world’s toughest conflicts.

One of the world’s top experts in the field, Ury has worked on conflicts ranging from boardroom battles to labor strikes, from the US partisan divide to family feuds, from wars in the Middle East, Colombia and Ukraine to helping the US and USSR avoid nuclear disaster. Now, in Possible, he helps us tackle the seemingly intransigent problems facing us.

In Possible, Ury argues conflict is natural. In fact, we need more conflict, not less—if we are to grow, change, evolve and solve our problems creatively. While we may not be able to end conflict, we can transform it—unleashing new, unexpected possibilities.

Successfully tested at Harvard University with almost a thousand participants from business, government, academia, and the nonprofit sector, Ury’s “Path to Possible” framework for handling difficult conversations proved so valuable that Harvard’s Program on Negotiation selected it as its inaugural online daylong in April 2022.

Possible introduces Ury’s methods and makes them available for everyone. Combining accessible frameworks and powerful storytelling and offering dozens of examples, it is an essential guide to improving communication skills for anyone looking to break through the toughest conflicts—in their workplace, family, community or the world.

Drawing on lessons from boardroom battles to global crises, this book offers a proven framework to:

• A Practical Problem-Solving Framework: Learn the “Path to Possible,” a step-by-step method tested at Harvard University for turning seemingly impossible problems into opportunities for growth.
• Masterful Mediation Techniques: Discover how to constructively engage and transform disputes, drawing on the author’s fifty years of experience on the front lines of the world’s toughest conflicts.
• Unlock Radical Collaboration: Move beyond fighting and learn to work together, even with those you disagree with, to solve crucial problems in your workplace, community, and family.
• Inspired by Getting to Yes: From the author of the world’s best-selling book on negotiation comes a new manifesto for our time, blending powerful storytelling with actionable advice.