Inside every airline magazine is an ad in which Chester L. Karrass insists, "You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate." This suggests that the "art" of negotiation is more important than the substance of any issue under consideration. When it's time to negotiate at the author's college, the faculty union's "professional negotiation" (PN) team musters from faculty volunteers whose experience in negotiations can range from novice to veteran. The old hands direct the new in order to field as knowledgeable a team as possible. The PN team meets with the administrative representation, composed of a lawyer hired by the board of trustees and a few dour administrators conscripted for the unpleasant task. In 2006 the author volunteered to be a member of the union's negotiation team. Part of the reason he chose to participate was that the college committed to trying something new, an alternative method of negotiation called Interest Based Bargaining (IBB). In contrast to traditional methods, IBB adds a collaborative problem-solving process that enables everyone to air their concerns, encouraging understanding and trust. In this article, the author talks about IBB and the conditions for successful interest based bargaining. (Contains 6 endnotes.)