With influence, theory and good advice aren’t enough: negotiation is a performance skill, and you need to practice. 

That’s where Never Settle: Persuasion and Negotiation Skills to Get What You Want (Simon Acumen; May 5th, 2026) comes in. Drawing from decades of experience teaching at elite institutions like Harvard and MIT, as well as incorporating insights they’ve culled from FBI hostage conflict resolution strategies and working with the U.S. State Department to negotiate with Colombian drug cartels, they outline actionable strategies to negotiate with confidence, no matter the circumstance. In short: the book is not about learning about negotiation; it’s about practicing negotiation. 

This empowering guide combines habit-building exercises with concrete takeaways at the end of every chapter so you can build a customized negotiation toolkit to return to again and again. Using real-world examples, they teach you how to gamify your negotiation skills in low stakes situations, so they are in peak shape when you really need them. This includes learning how to:

 

• Build trust through reciprocity. 

• Understand your own interests—and the other party’s—clearly.

• Craft multiple win-win outcomes through creative problem solving.

• Practice saying “no,” even when it’s uncomfortable.

• Manage rejection and failure (and even seek them out!).

• Leverage a good deal into future successes.

 

As Attia and John make clear, good negotiation does more than just improve your relationships—personal and professional—or increase your success. Indeed, when done correctly, negotiations can make the world a better place.

 

To request review copies of NEVER SETTLE or to schedule an interview with Attia, please contact ashtin.ballard@simonandschuster.com.