City Planner, Mediator, and MIT Professor

  • Lawrence Susskind
    Marianella Sclavi

    Manuale di Confronto Creativo : Le Arti della Comunicazione, della Convivenza e della Democrazia nel XXI Secolo

    Che la democrazia classica, ottocentesca, abbia urgente bisogno di un upgrading è sotto gli occhi di tutti. Ma per compiere questo salto è necessario mettere all'opera anche nella vita quotidiana strumenti come l'ascolto attivo, la gestione creativa dei conflitti, l'autoconsapevolezza emozionale. Questo libro è frutto della collaborazione fra Lawrence Susskind, professore al MIT e fondatore storico del Program on Negotiation (Pon) della Harvard Law School, nonché del Consensus Building Institute di Boston, e Marianella Sclavi, una scienziata sociale innovativa non convenzionale, esperta di gestione creativa dei conflitti e di arte di ascoltare. Questo non è – se non per il minimo indispensabile -un saggio teorico , ma un libro pieno di casi, di esempi e soluzioni che sorprendono e fanno pensare. L'uso della necessaria cassetta degli attrezzi viene illustrato attraverso una simulazione: nella fittizia cittadina italiana di Dolceriviera, un variegato gruppo di underquaranta si trova impegnato in una formidabile esperienza di democrazia deliberativa. Il racconto consente di seguire passo per passo l'affacciarsi dei soliti blocchi comunicativi e di funzionamento istituzionale che impediscono lo sviluppo della intelligenza collettiva e l'emergere di soluzioni creative, partecipate, condivise.


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Samuel Dinnar
    Edward Roberts

    Entrepreneurial Negotiation: Understanding and Managing the Relationships that Determine Your Entrepreneurial Success

    The great majority of startups fail, and most entrepreneurs who have succeeded have had to bounce back from serious mistakes. Entrepreneurs fumble key interactions because they don’t know how to handle the negotiation challenges that almost always arise. They mistakenly believe that deals are about money when they are much more complicated than that.

    This book presents entrepreneurship as a series of interactions between founders, partners, potential partners, investors and others at various stages of the entrepreneurial process – from seed to exit. There are plenty of authors offering ‘tips’ on how to succeed as an entrepreneur, but no one else scrutinizes the negotiation mistakes that successful entrepreneurs talk about with the authors.

    As Dinnar and Susskind show, learning to handle emotions, manage uncertainty, cope with technical complexity and build long-term relationships are equally or even more important. This book spotlights eight big mistakes that entrepreneurs often make and shows how most can be prevented with some forethought. It includes interviews with high-profile entrepreneurs about their own mistakes. It also covers gender biases, cultural challenges, and when to employ agents to negotiate on your behalf.

    Aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs should pay attention to the negotiation errors that even the most successful entrepreneurs commonly make.


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Frans Evers

    Het Kan Wel!

    Het kan wel! draws from the rich practical experiences of Frans Evers with negotiations on Dutch spatial development projects using the Mutual Gains Approach (MGA) that Professor Lawrence Susskind, as Vice-Chair of inter-university Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, has co-developed. 

    The Mutual Gains Approach (also called a win-win approach) provides space for creative policy and decision making that takes into account all social interests. Stakeholders will be given the opportunity to bring forward their interests, ideas and objections from the very beginning. This process is designed in such a way that solutions are developed where each party benefits. The developments can be done quickly and with great support and do not bother with outsiders who use their obstacle to slow down. 

    The book is based on Lawrence Susskind's Breaking Robert's Rules. The decision-making on major area development is based on twelve exemplary projects, ranging from the Second Maasvlakte and the layout of the area between Almere and Schiphol / Amsterdam to spatial developments in the Bulb region and the combination of nature and industry in Woensdrecht. 


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Bruno Verdini
    Yasmin Zaerpoor
    Jessica Gordon

    Environmental Problem-Solving – A Video-Enhanced Self-Instructional e-Book from MIT

    An online, self-paced curriculum for learning the basic techniques government agencies, citizen action groups, corporations and research institutions use to solve pressing environmental problems.

    The book is divided into four sections: The first section focuses on how certain environmental problems can only be solved through active government effort to implement policies that effectively take science and politics into account empowering readers to develop, through exercises and videos, a solid framework to shape an action plan to solve specific environmental problems. The next section focuses on formulating a sound philosophical basis for taking action in environmental problem solving situations. Through exercises and videos, readers will be able to take a stand on these debates, drawing on practical cases with worked examples. The penultimate section helps environmental practitioners understand how to use various analytical tools empowering readers to practice multi-party environmental problem-solving, and to identify the power of each tool to enhance environmental problem-solving, developing the judgment to enumerate strengths and weaknesses as they see them playing out in practice. The concluding section is a survey of the theory and practice behind mobilizing support for particular problem-solving ideas.


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Marianella Sclavi

    Creative Confrontation: The Right to Speak, The Right to Be Heard

    Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting.

    Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context.

    Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

    Italian Language Second Edition


  • Lawrence Susskind

    Managing Climate Risks in Resilient Cities

    MIT Professor Lawrence Susskind contends that communities can take action to combat climate change now, but such actions will happen only with widespread public engagement; public education and public opinion surveys are not enough. Susskind and colleagues have been facilitating workshops with role-playing sessions where people consider how what they want and need can be meshed with the different wants and needs of others. Dialogue focuses not on worldwide climate change but on localized weather catastrophes. Climate risk is thereby translated into public health risk and people emerge with ideas for change rather than a mere summary of problems and disagreements. Susskind's discourse serves as a blueprint for ways that government agencies and citizens can work together to build climate-resilient communities. 

    Susskind delivered this lecture on March 30, 2016, at the twenty-first annual symposium sponsored by the Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resource and the Environment at the S. J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. 


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Danya Rumore
    Carri Hulet
    Patrick Field

    Manging Climate Risks in Coastal Communities: Strategies for Engagement, Readiness and Adaptation

    Drawing on research from the New England Climate Adaptation Project, “Managing Climate Risks for Coastal Communities” introduces a framework for building local capacity to respond to climate change. The authors maintain that local climate adaptation efforts require collective commitments to risk management, but that many communities are not ready to take on the challenge and urgently need enhanced capacity to support climate adaptation planning. To this end, the book offers statistical assessments of one readiness enhancement strategy, using tailored role-play simulations as part of a broader engagement approach. It also introduces methods for forecasting local climate change risks, as well as for evaluating the social and political context in which collective action must take place. With extensive illustration and example engagement materials, this volume is tailored for use by researchers, policy makers and practitioners.


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Saleem Ali
    Zakri Abdul Hamid

    Environmental Diplomacy Negotiating More Effective Global Agreements

    International environmental agreements have increased exponentially within the last five decades. However, decisions on policies to address key issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change, ozone depletion, hazardous waste transport and numerous other planetary challenges require individual countries to adhere to international norms. What have been the successes and failures in the environmental treaty-making arena? How has the role of civil society and scientific consensus contributed to this maturing process? Why have some treaties been more enforceable than others and which theories of international relations can further inform efforts in this regard? Addressing these questions with renewed emphasis on close case analysis makes this volume a timely and thorough postscript to the Rio-Plus 20 summit's celebrated invocation document, The Future We Want, towards sustainable development.

    Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating More Effective Global Agreements provides an accessible narrative on understanding the geopolitics of negotiating international environmental agreements and clear guidance on improving the current system. In this book, authors Lawrence Susskind and Saleem Ali expertly observe international environmental negotiations to effectively inform the reader on the geopolitics of protecting our planet. This second edition offers an additional perspective from the Global South as well as providing a broader analysis of the role of science in environmental treaty-making. It provides a unique contribution as a panoramic analysis of the process of environmental treaty-making.


  • Lawrence Susskind

    Good for You, Great for Me: Finding the Trading Zone and Winning at Win-Win Negotiation

    “Win-win” negotiation is an appealing idea on an intellectual level: Find the best way to convince the other side to accept a mutually beneficial outcome, and then everyone gets their fair share. The reality, though, is that people want more than their fair share; they want to win. Tell your boss that you’ve concocted a deal that gets your company a piece of the pie, and the reaction is likely to be: “Maybe we need to find someone harder-nosed than you who knows how to win. We want the whole pie, not just a slice.” However, to return to an earlier era before “win-win” negotiation was in fashion and seek simply to dominate or bully opponents into submission would be a step in the wrong direction—and a public relations disaster.

    By showing how to win at win-win negotiating, Lawrence Susskind provides the operational advice you need to satisfy the interests of your back table—the people to whom you report. He also shows you how to deal with irrational people, whose vocabulary seems limited to “no,” or with the proverbial 900-pound gorilla. He explains how to find trades that create much more value than either you or your opponent thought possible. His brilliant concept of “the trading zone”—the space where you can create deals that are “good for them but great for you,” while still maintaining trust and keeping relationships intact—is a fresh way to re-think your approach to negotiating. The outcome is often the best of both possible worlds: You claim a disproportionate share of the value you’ve created while your opponents still look good to the people to whom they report.

    Whether the venue is business, a family dispute, international relations, or a tradeoff that has to be made between the environment and jobs, Susskind provides a breakthrough in how to both think about, and engage in, productive negotiations.


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Shafiqul Islam

    Water Diplomacy: A Negotiated Approach to Managing Complex Water Networks

    Water is the resource that will determine the wealth, welfare, and stability of many countries in the twenty-first century. This book offers a new approach to managing water that will overcome the conflicts that emerge when the interactions among natural, societal, and political forces are overlooked. At the heart of these conflicts are complex water networks.

    In managing them, science alone is insufficient and so is policy-making that doesn't take science into account. Solutions will only emerge if a negotiated or diplomatic approach that blends science, policy, and politics is used to manage water networks. The authors show how open and constantly changing water networks can be managed successfully using collaborative adaptive techniques to build informed agreements among disciplinary experts, water users with conflicting interests, and governmental bodies with countervailing claims.

    Shafiqul Islam is an engineer with over twenty-five years of practical experience in addressing water issues. Lawrence Susskind is founder of MIT's Environmental Policy and Planning Program and a leader of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Together they have developed a text that is relevant for students and experienced professionals working in a variety of engineering, science, and applied social science fields. They show how new thinking about water conflict can replace the zero-sum battles that pit experts, politicians, and stakeholders against each other in counter-productive ways. Their volume not only presents the key elements of a theory of water diplomacy; it includes excerpts and commentary from more than two dozen seminal readings as well as practice exercises that challenge readers to apply what they have learned.


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Frans Evers

    It Can Happen! Governmental Negotiations With Lasting Results

    Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting.

    Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context.

    Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

    Dutch Language Edition


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Francisco Ingouville

    Beyond Majority Rule: A New Way to Run Meetings, Build Consensus, Improve Relationships, and Maximize Results for Everyone

    Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting.

    Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context.

    Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

    Spanish Language Edition


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Hallam Movius

    Built to Win: Creating a World Class Negotiating Organization

    Companies that consistently negotiate more valuable agreements "in ways that protect key relationships" enjoy an important but often overlooked competitive advantage. Until now, most companies have sought to improve their negotiation outcomes by sending individuals to training workshops. Using real-world examples from leading companies, this book shows a more powerful and less expensive way to achieve this.

    In Built to Win, authors Susskind and Movius argue that negotiation must be a strategic core competency. Drawing on their decades of training and consulting work, as well as a robust theory of negotiation, the authors provide a step-by-step model for building organizational competence. They show why the approach of "training and more training" is a weak strategy. They describe the organizational barriers that so often plague even experienced negotiators, and recommend ways of overcoming them. Built to Win explains the crucial role that leaders must play in setting goals, aligning incentives, pinpointing metrics, and supporting learning platforms to promote long-term success. A final chapter provides practical "how-to" tools to help you start your own organizational improvement process.


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Larry Crump

    Multiparty Negotiation

    Multiparty negotiation is a rapidly developing but complex field whose literature is scattered across a broad range of disciplines and sources. This four-volume collection consolidates this knowledge by bringing together classic works and cutting-edge papers from law, international politics, organization studies and public administration.

    Volume One: Multiparty Negotiation: An Introduction to Theory and Practice

    Volume Two: Public Dispute Resolution

    Volume Three: Organizational and Group Negotiations

    Volume Four: Complex Legal Transactions and International Negotiations


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Yann Duzert
    Alain Pekar Lempereur

    Facilitate Participation: A Good Process Gets a Good Outcome

    Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting.

    Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context.

    Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

    French Language Edition


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Tsisana Shamlikashvili
    Arthur Demchuk

    Management of Difficult Decisions in the 21st Century: Secrets to Building Consensus or Making Decisions That Satisfy Everyone

    Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting.

    Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context.

    Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

    Russian Language Edition


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Jeffrey Cruikshank
    Andrew Wei-Min Lee

    Breaking Robert’s Rules: The New Way to Run Your Meeting, Build Consensus, and Get Results

    Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting.

    Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context.

    Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

    Chinese Language Edition


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Sol Erdman

    The Cure for Our Broken Political Process: How We Can Get Our Politicians to Stop Fighting and Start Resolving the Issues that Truly Matter

    Record numbers of Americans fear that our political process is broken―for good reason. Our nation faces unprecedented challenges, yet our politicians spend most of their energy attacking one another. All the while, no one in public life has offered a practical way to neutralize the bitter partisanship that paralyzes Washington.The Cure for Our Broken Political Process fills that void. The authors show exactly how concerned citizens can get politicians from all camps to negotiate genuine solutions to the most vexing issues. Sol Erdman and Lawrence Susskind base their case on their thirty years of experience in resolving political conflict.The Cure begins with hard evidence that our country could work out practical solutions to nearly every major issue that now divides us, solutions that all sides could support. Why, then, don’t our politicians seek out those solutions? The authors debunk all the accepted explanations and then uncover the real reason. By telling the story of a concerned citizen who runs for Congress, the book shows that two basic features of our elections virtually compel politicians to bicker endlessly over major problems. So, as long as our elections work as they do today, our lawmakers will keep on fighting, leaving the critical issues unresolved.The authors then spell out how to redesign elections so that politicians would win only if they produced useful results―only if they negotiated practical solutions to pressing problems. The book concludes with a step-by-step plan proving that ordinary citizens have the power to bring about these changes. To anyone who fears that our country’s future is in peril, The Cure offers a realistic path to a political process they can genuinely believe in.


  • Lawrence Susskind
    Jeffrey Cruikshank
    Yann Duzert

    When A Majority is Not Enough: A New Method of Collective Negotiation and Consensus Building

    Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting.

    Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context.

    Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

    Portuguese Language Edition


  • Lawrence Susskind
    William Moomaw
    Kevin Gallagher

    Transboundary Environmental Negotiations

    Transboundary Environmental Negotiation is an important collection of articles generated by faculty and graduate students at MIT, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. The contributors emphasize the ways in which global environmental treaty-making can be improved. They highlight new environmental problems that pose difficult global negotiation challenges and suggest new strategies for involving a range of nongovernmental actors in ways that can overcome the obstacles to transboundary environmentalism.