Nancy Lindborg, President of the United States Institute of Peace, will offer introductory remarks.

What causes conflict? Why do we get stuck in the same conflict again and again, and rarely find a resolution?

In Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve Your Most Emotionally Charged Conflicts, Shapiro—a  world-renowned expert on negotiation and conflict resolution and Founder and Director of the Harvard International Negotiation Program—reveals the unconscious forces that strain relationships and make conflict feel nonnegotiable, and charts a powerful new path to resolution.

Shapiro has found that rational approaches rarely work because most conflicts hinge upon two non-rational forces: our emotions and identities. Conflicts become emotionally charged when our identity gets threatened – triggering a hidden set of emotional forces that sabotage cooperation. These forces can turn even a trivial argument into an emotional uproar and threaten your relationship, work environment, home life, or national safety.

For anyone in a tense dispute with their spouse to managers trying to get departments to cooperate, Negotiating the Nonnegotiable is a guide to resolve your toughest conflicts and reconcile your most contentious relationships.

Shapiro regularly conducts negotiation trainings worldwide for business executives and government leaders—such as Middle East negotiators, Chinese officials, Serbian members of parliament, and senior U.S. officials. Book signing to follow.