Roger Fisher (1922-2012)
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August 2012 |
Roger Fisher, a pioneer in the field of international law and negotiation and the co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project, died on August 25, 2012. A professor at Harvard Law School for more than four decades, Fisher established negotiation and conflict resolution as a field deserving academic study and devoted his career to challenging students and colleagues alike to explore alternative methods of dispute resolution.
Fisher’s work laid the foundation on which much of the field of negotiation and conflict resolution has been based. His best-selling book, “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Without Giving In” (co-authored with William Ury in 1981), has been translated into 23 languages and has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Prior to the publication of “Getting to Yes,” there were almost no regular courses in negotiation taught at academic institutions. Now there are hundreds, if not thousands, of courses devoted to negotiation.
“Through his writings and teaching, Roger Fisher's seminal contributions literally changed the way millions of people around the world approach negotiation and dispute resolution,” said HLS Professor Robert Mnookin, chair of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project. “He taught that conflict is not simply a ‘zero-sum’ game in which a fixed pie is simply divided through haggling or threats. Instead, he showed how by exploring underlying interests and being imaginative, parties could often expand the pie and create value.”
Robert C. Bordone said: “Roger was a master at the art of perspective-taking, of understanding how deep human needs—to be heard, valued, respected, autonomous and safe—when unmet or trampled upon, become seeds of evil and violence, seeds that can cause us to vilify each other, and that motivate us to see the world in stark black-and-white terms. For Roger, the purpose of perspective-taking was never to excuse or justify evil. Rather, it was a way to discover new approaches to diplomacy, to influence and to understanding.”
Here is the complete interview by Robert Benjamin of Roger Fisher, author of "Getting to Yes" and other negotiation and dispute resolution books and founder of the Harvard Project on Negotiation, filmed for the Mediate.com Eye of the Storm Video Series.
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Linda Ashton,
Bridgetown
09/05/12
Condolences
I studied Mediation with the Stitt Feld Handy group through the Windsor University Law School and was given the book "getting to yes" and I thought it a brilliant piece of work in the field of Mediation. This (Mediation) is a field that I love and consider it an essential tool to reduce the burden off the law courts in my country for things that can be negotiated through the use of Mediation. Another brilliant mind is gone - rest in peace
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Anthony ,
Port of Spain Tr
chairtaxcourt@tstt.net.tt
08/28/12
Sad day
In some of the immortal words of history, "The King is dead. Long live the King." We can mourn the loss of this great man who changed the way we think. But we can also rejoice that he shared so much and made the world a more humane place. Condolences to his family. Thank you RF for making negotiation and mediation household terms.
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