Best Books on Deal Making: An Operator's List

Most "best business books" lists are written by people who review books. This one is written by someone who signs agreements. Each pick changes how you behave in a real negotiation, and each comes with who it is for and one operator takeaway. Publication details link to publisher, library or review records. My own two books are listed separately and not ranked.

The list at a glance

Book	Best for	Key idea
Getting to Yes (Fisher and Ury, 1981)	Everyone, especially beginners	Negotiate on interests, and know your BATNA
Getting Past No (Ury, 1991)	Difficult counterparties	Don't react; change the game instead of pushing harder
Never Split the Difference (Voss with Raz, 2016)	High-pressure, emotional negotiations	Read emotions and get comfortable with "no"
Bargaining for Advantage (Shell, 1999)	Professionals who want a system	Preparation and the other side's interests decide the outcome
Influence (Cialdini, 1984)	Sales, BD and anyone who persuades	Six principles, starting with reciprocity
Venture Deals (Feld and Mendelson, 2011)	Founders raising venture money	Term sheets are about economics and control
Mergers and Acquisitions from A to Z (Sherman, 4th ed., 2018)	Founders buying or selling a company	The full M&A process, from preparation to integration
Built to Sell (Warrillow, 2011)	Owners planning an exit	A business that depends on you is hard to sell
The Outsiders (Thorndike, 2012)	CEOs and boards	Capital allocation is the CEO's real job
Barbarians at the Gate (Burrough and Helyar, 1989)	Anyone in a competitive auction	Ego and bidding wars can push price past sense
Never Eat Alone (Ferrazzi with Raz, 2005)	Founders building a network	Build relationships before you need them

Business negotiation books

1. Getting to Yes, by Roger Fisher and William Ury (1981)

First published in 1981, later editions add Bruce Patton as co-author. It sets out principled negotiation: separate the people from the problem, focus on interests rather than positions, invent options for mutual gain, and insist on objective criteria. It also introduced BATNA, your best alternative to a negotiated agreement.

Best for: anyone, and the right first book for beginners. Operator takeaway: write your BATNA down before the first meeting. If you cannot name it, you are not ready to negotiate.

2. Getting Past No, by William Ury (1991)

Published by Bantam in 1991, this is the sequel for when the other side will not play fair. Ury's five steps: don't react, disarm your opponent, change the game, make it easy to say yes, and make it hard to say no.

Best for: negotiations with difficult or positional counterparties. Operator takeaway: when someone stonewalls, stop pushing the same point. Change the frame, the structure or the people in the room.

3. Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss with Tahl Raz (2016)

Voss spent more than twenty years as an FBI hostage negotiator, according to Publishers Weekly, which reviewed the 2016 Harper Business edition. The book covers reading the other side's emotions, confronting without confrontation and getting comfortable hearing "no".

Best for: high-pressure negotiations where emotion drives the outcome. Operator takeaway: a "no" is not the end of a negotiation. It is often the moment the other side feels safe enough to tell you what they actually need.

4. Bargaining for Advantage, by G. Richard Shell (1999)

Subtitled Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People, first published in 1999 with a second edition from Penguin in 2006. It is the most structured book on this list and treats negotiation as a skill you prepare for, built on understanding your own style and the other side's interests.

Best for: professionals who want a repeatable system. Operator takeaway: most negotiations are won or lost in preparation. Spend more time on the other side's interests than on your own script.

5. Influence, by Robert Cialdini (1984)

First published in 1984 as Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Cialdini describes six principles: reciprocity, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity, with a seventh, unity, added in the most recent edition.

Best for: sales, business development and anyone who persuades for a living. Operator takeaway: reciprocity is how you earn a meeting with a principal. Solve one of their problems before you ask for anything.

Best negotiation books for beginners

If you are new to negotiation, read in this order: Getting to Yes for the framework, Never Split the Difference for the human side, then Influence for persuasion. Add Getting Past No when you first meet a counterparty who refuses to engage.

Read negotiation books with a live deal on your desk. The ideas only stick when you have something real to apply them to.

Deal making books on structure and terms

6. Venture Deals, by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson (2011)

Published by Wiley in 2011 and revised in later editions, it explains the venture capital process, the term sheet and financing stages from seed onward. The authors separate term sheet provisions into those that define the economics of a deal and those that define control.

Best for: founders raising venture capital. Operator takeaway: the headline valuation is only half the deal. Read every control term as carefully as the price.

7. Mergers and Acquisitions from A to Z, by Andrew J. Sherman (4th edition, 2018)

The fourth edition, published by AMACOM in 2018, walks through the whole M&A process: preparing, the letter of intent, due diligence, structuring, purchase price, the board's role, closing and post-closing challenges, plus cross-border deals and alternatives such as joint ventures.

Best for: founders and owners who are buying or selling a company and want to understand the full process. Operator takeaway: preparation comes before the first conversation. A buyer judges your company by how organized it is on day one.

Best mergers and acquisitions books for founders

8. Built to Sell, by John Warrillow (2011)

Published by Portfolio in April 2011, it argues that many owners cannot sell because buyers doubt the company can run without them.

Best for: owners who want an exit in the next few years. Operator takeaway: remove yourself as the key-person risk before a buyer starts looking. See my USD 100M deal readiness checklist.

9. The Outsiders, by William N. Thorndike (2012)

Published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2012, it profiles eight CEOs, including leaders at Berkshire Hathaway, Capital Cities Broadcasting and Teledyne, who focused on per-share value, capital allocation and cash flow rather than headline growth.

Best for: CEOs, boards and founders deciding when to buy, sell or hold. Operator takeaway: every acquisition is a capital allocation decision first and a deal second.

10. Barbarians at the Gate, by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar (1989)

Published in 1989, it tells the story of the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco: CEO F. Ross Johnson's bid, KKR's opposing bid and the bidding war that followed, which left the company carrying heavy debt.

Best for: anyone entering a competitive auction. Operator takeaway: decide your walk-away price before the auction starts, because the room will try to change it for you.

Books on relationships and the right rooms

11. Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi with Tahl Raz (2005)

Published by Currency in 2005, subtitled And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. It is about building relationships deliberately and generously, long before you need anything from them.

Best for: founders who want a network that produces deals, not business cards. Operator takeaway: the meeting you need next year depends on the relationship you start this month. My free Wrong Room masterclass covers where those relationships actually form.

What about The Art of the Deal?

It is one of the most searched deal making books. I left it off because it reads more as memoir than as a method you can apply.

Disclosure: my own books

I wrote the two books below, so they are not ranked with the others.

The Deal Architect: The 90/90 Strategy to Structure, Negotiate & Close Your First $100 Million Deal (launching on Amazon on 26 November 2026). Best for founders and business owners preparing for their first large deal. Key idea: 90 days to a decision, 90 days to execution.
Beyond Riches with Income Properties: The 90/90 Strategy (2018). A #1 Amazon bestseller in three categories with a foreword by Raymond Aaron. Best for real estate investors. Key idea: the 90/90 Strategy applied to income property.

Why take a reading list from me

I work on the signing side of the table. I closed USD 300M in personal real estate sales in Toronto (2010–2024), hold a USD 1B exclusive sales mandate for two Dubai towers in Dubai, and hold a written global mandate to represent and negotiate for Abdulla Bin Mujren Investment Group. My work spans 191 deal files across 11 sectors. More about me.

Strategic advisory and introductions only. Not investment, legal or tax advice, and not an offer of securities. Regulated activities are handled by appropriately licensed firms.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best book on deal making?

For most people, Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury (1981) is the best starting point, because it gives you a framework for any negotiation: focus on interests, invent options for mutual gain and know your BATNA. Founders facing investors should add Venture Deals, and owners planning an exit should add Built to Sell.

What are the best negotiation books for beginners?

Start with Getting to Yes for the framework, then Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss with Tahl Raz for the emotional side of negotiation, then Influence by Robert Cialdini for the psychology of persuasion. Add Getting Past No by William Ury when you first meet a counterparty who refuses to engage constructively.

What are the best mergers and acquisitions books for founders?

Mergers and Acquisitions from A to Z by Andrew J. Sherman explains the full process from preparation to integration. Built to Sell by John Warrillow shows why a company that depends on its owner is hard to sell. The Outsiders by William Thorndike shows how strong CEOs think about capital allocation before any acquisition.

Is Never Split the Difference better than Getting to Yes?

They do different jobs. Getting to Yes gives you the structure of principled negotiation and the BATNA concept. Never Split the Difference, by a former FBI hostage negotiator, focuses on emotion, listening and getting comfortable with "no". Most serious negotiators read both: Getting to Yes first for the framework, then Voss for the human side.

Are there deal making books for real estate investors?

Yes. My first book, Beyond Riches with Income Properties: The 90/90 Strategy (2018), applies a 90 days to a decision and 90 days to execution method to income property investing, with a foreword by Raymond Aaron. For negotiation skills that carry across real estate deals, pair it with Getting to Yes and Never Split the Difference.

When is The Deal Architect book released?

The Deal Architect: The 90/90 Strategy to Structure, Negotiate & Close Your First $100 Million Deal launches on Amazon on 26 November 2026. It is available on Amazon only. You can register on the book page at adnanferoz.com/book to be notified on launch day. It is written for founders and business owners preparing for large deals.

Add The Deal Architect to your reading list

The Deal Architect launches on Amazon on 26 November 2026. Register now and get notified on launch day.

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The best books on deal making: 11 picks from an operator's desk