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Steamboat Springs — Negotiation isn't all about sticking it to the other person, Randy Rudasics said.

Rudasics is leading a lunchtime workshop Thursday to explain what he means. Rudasics, manager of the Bogue Enterprise Center and a SCORE counselor, plans to use a book to guide the business-focused Success Steps talk at Steamboat Smokehouse.

To negotiate, people must understand their counterpart's position, he said. That's one of the tenets of "Getting to Yes," written by Bruce Patton, William Ury and Roger Fisher. The men are affiliated with Harvard University, but the book is easy to read, Rudasics said.

"It also kind of reflects my views that a negotiation shouldn't be one person's will against another," Rudasics said. "It should be a discussion of the issues of both parties to find a mutually acceptable conclusion."

Negotiation is a key recession-time topic, Rudasics said.

"Many people now are going back to talk to vendors for better terms; they're talking to their banks. : They may have creditors or customers that are in a hard way and unable to come to the kind of agreement that a year ago would have been easy to discuss," he said. "With the stress that's out there, I thought it would be a good time to remind people there's a good way to have these conversations."

SCORE volunteer Roger Good said he plans to attend Thursday's discussion. In negotiation, listening and understanding the other person's position is crucial, he said. People sometimes focus too much on getting their own point across, Good said.

"The only kind of negotiation that results in both people being happy is win-win, not win-lose," he said.

The Negotiation Experts, which offers negotiation training, has a review of "Getting to Yes" on its Web site. The book was published in 1981, and negotiation theory has evolved, the review stated. Still, it calls the book "a classic read for any novice interested in learning the art and science of negotiation."

Rudasics plans to highlight several concepts, including the "best alternative to a negotiated agreement." Knowing that alternative allows the person to enter a negotiation with an idea of what will happen if the discussion fails, he said.

Rudasics leads the Bogue center at Colorado Mountain College's Alpine Campus. He used to represent Hewlett-Packard as area sales finance/contract manager in Cleveland and Los Angeles, where he negotiated terms with HP customers. He also owned and managed a small business in Indiana.

He puts together at least 10 Success Steps programs a year and tries to lead at least two himself. Negotiation isn't a sexy topic, but it's important, he said.

"I've spent probably 20 hours putting this together," Rudasics said. "I've put a lot of heart and soul in it. Whether we have eight people or 20 people, I believe it will be a good program."