The book springs from the work of the Harvard Negotiation Project, and focuses on how to negotiate within a difficult conversation. Negotiation is defined as a synthetic act of multiple parties who attempt to arrive at a conclusion or answer through interactive dialogue and conversation. Negotiation typically requires a series of back-and-forth exchanges where each party will state their side of the issue. Together their goal is to reach some kind of mutual understanding that everyone agrees upon.

The etymology of the English word perspective is taken from the Latin terms “per” and “species,” and when put together mean something similar to “the act of seeing through something.” In contemporary English, the use of the word “perspective” emphasizes an individual’s unique way of seeing something from a particular vantage point. It doesn’t mean that any other way of seeing something is necessarily false. Speaking about a perspective on something means to speak about how something appears from a particular point of view.

A person’s intention is the goal that they have in mind when speaking or acting. They intend something because they incline, or bend toward, a particular thing.