Negotiating the Impossible
How to Break Deadlocks and Resolve Ugly Conflicts (without Money or Muscle)
by Deepak Malhotra
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More Recommenders
“By farandaway, the best advice I’ve ever received on negotiating came from @Prof_Malhotra. His book “Negotiating the Impossible” is now in paperback and is a bible for creating winwin deals. It is a mustread! | If you want to be a world class big deal negotiator, make sure you pick up “Negotiating The Impossible” by @Prof_Malhotra, best book on the subject by far.”
Source →“By farandaway, the best advice I’ve ever received on negotiating came from @Prof_Malhotra. His book “Negotiating the Impossible” is now in paperback and is a bible for creating winwin deals. It is a mustread! | If you want to be a world class big deal negotiator, make sure you pick up “Negotiating The Impossible” by @Prof_Malhotra, best book on the subject by far.”
Source →“By farandaway, the best advice I’ve ever received on negotiating came from @Prof_Malhotra. His book “Negotiating the Impossible” is now in paperback and is a bible for creating winwin deals. It is a mustread! | If you want to be a world class big deal negotiator, make sure you pick up “Negotiating The Impossible” by @Prof_Malhotra, best book on the subject by far.”
Source →Recommended by 5 notable people, including Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Vinod Khosla
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Starts as a pragmatic manual for negotiating seemingly hopeless situations, driven by clear tactics and many illustrative stories. What works best is concrete, usable moves—reframing options, changing perceptions of leverage, and creative ways to reopen talks. The book leans heavily on case narratives, which make ideas memorable but also repeat similar lessons in multiple chapters. If you want hands-on templates or tightly argued theoretical models, you'll find it less satisfying; it lacks step-by-step exercises.
Read this if...
- •corporate dealmaker trying to revive a stalled merger negotiation — needs fresh tactics to break an impasse and reopen dialogue with hostile counterparts.
- •nonprofit program manager mediating resource conflicts with limited leverage — looking for ways to reframe options and create legitimate alternative solutions without more power.
- •founder stuck in a partnership or investor stalemate — wants practical means to shift perceptions and negotiate durable rather than purely transactional agreements.
Skip this if...
- •you'll likely put it down when the same anecdotal pattern repeats and you want new tools rather than another case study; the midbook cycle of similar stories is the common dropout point.
- •annoying if you prefer formal theory, dense citations, or granular models — this is pragmatic and example-driven, not academic.
- •annoying if you want hands-on exercises or worksheets — the book provides tactics and stories but lacks hands-on exercises and templates.
Negotiating the Impossible guides readers through deadlock with practical advice, and shares stories of successful negotiation to make the hopeless feel hopeful!Some negotiations are easy. Others are more difficult. And then there are situations that seem completely hopeless. Conflict is escalating, people are getting aggressive, and no one is will...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- corporate dealmaker trying to revive a stalled merger negotiation — needs fresh tactics to break an impasse and reopen dialogue with hostile counterparts.
- nonprofit program manager mediating resource conflicts with limited leverage — looking for ways to reframe options and create legitimate alternative solutions without more power.
- founder stuck in a partnership or investor stalemate — wants practical means to shift perceptions and negotiate durable rather than purely transactional agreements.
- you'll likely put it down when the same anecdotal pattern repeats and you want new tools rather than another case study; the midbook cycle of similar stories is the common dropout point.
- annoying if you prefer formal theory, dense citations, or granular models — this is pragmatic and example-driven, not academic.
- annoying if you want hands-on exercises or worksheets — the book provides tactics and stories but lacks hands-on exercises and templates.
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 7 sources and appears in Negotiation, Most Recommended Books, and Management.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Bill Gurley
“By farandaway, the best advice I’ve ever received on negotiating came from @Prof_Malhotra. His book “Negotiating the Impossible” is now in paperback and is a bible for creating winwin deals. It is a mustread! | If you want to be a world class big deal negotiator, make sure you pick up “Negotiating The Impossible” by @Prof_Malhotra, best book on the subject by far.”
View sources (3) ▾80%
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt. Recommended by 13 sources.
“A brisk, anecdote-driven collection of management lessons presented as brief chapters and stories. Its most useful parts are short, practical reminders about mentoring, building trust, and coaching teams—phrases you can recall before meetings. The main limitation is a heavy reliance on anecdotes and secondhand recollection rather than step-by-step recipes or rigorous analysis; readers wanting granular playbooks or data will find it thin. Best approached as a promptbook to revisit instead of a how-to manual to follow cover-to-cover.”
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How recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.