Tunde has been offered a job that pays less than he hoped. He feels pressure to accept it because he has been looking for three months and is starting to feel desperate. Every time he tries to push back on the salary, the employer seems unmoved. He feels powerless. But is he actually powerless? Or does he just not know what his power is? Fisher and Ury introduce one of the most important concepts in negotiation: BATNA. It stands for Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. Your BATNA is what you will do if this negotiation fails. Not what you wish you could do. Not your bottom-line number. What you will actually do. Why does this matter? Because your real negotiating power is not determined by how confident you seem, how much you need the outcome, or how big the other side is. Your power is determined by how attractive your alternative is. If Tunde has no other offers, no savings, and no realistic plan B, his BATNA is weak. He may be right to accept the lower offer. But if Tunde has been quietly developing alternatives — exploring a freelance project that could generate income, reaching out to two other companies, considering a short course that would qualify him for a different role — then his BATNA is becoming stronger. And as it strengthens, so does his ability to walk away from a bad deal. The authors warn against the common alternative to a BATNA: a bottom line. A bottom line is an arbitrary number you decide in advance not to go below. It protects you from a terrible deal, but it also shuts down creativity. It prevents you from accepting a good offer you did not anticipate. A BATNA is more flexible. It gives you a real reference point: is this agreement better than what I can do without their cooperation? If yes, consider it seriously. If no, it may be time to walk. The authors also recommend thinking about the other side's BATNA. The more you understand what they will do if this negotiation fails, the better you understand how much they actually need an agreement — and how much flexibility they have. Knowing your BATNA does not mean threatening to walk away. It means you walk into the room knowing where the door is.