Assess Alternatives.
Any post-modern piece sketching the contours of the Leviathan of Negotiation would have a gaping hole larger than that great beast’s blowhole if it omitted mention of the BATNA coined and popularized by Fisher and Ury. BATNA – the best alternative to a negotiated agreement – as well as its variants, all other alternatives, good, bad and ugly, can be used by negotiators to test whether a deal on the table is worth taking. If the likely, tangible alternative to that deal is superior, the rational negotiator keeps bargaining for something better or walks away.