The core idea
What people say they want (their position) is rarely the same as why they want it (their interest). Most arguments stall because both sides defend positions. IBC trains you to surface the interests underneath, on both sides of the table, and to speak so the other person can actually hear you. The method is codified into a workbook and structured exercises that participants drill in person, rather than theory delivered from a lecture stage.
Crowe developed the method across a career spent in hostile communication environments: the Peace Corps in Kenya, the World Bank, and as Director of Millennial Engagement at Monsanto, where he regularly addressed audiences that arrived angry. The course is built for highly logical people, engineers, farmers, scientists, and operators, who find typical soft-skills training too vague to use.
How IBC differs from related approaches
Interest-based bargaining is a labor-relations negotiation format used in union and contract settings. IBC shares the premise that interests matter more than positions, but it is a broader communication method covering storytelling, listening, and everyday high-stakes conversations, not only formal bargaining sessions.
Fisher and Ury's principled negotiation (from Getting to Yes) popularized separating interests from positions. IBC builds on that foundation with concrete, repeatable techniques designed to be drilled until they hold up under pressure, in a format small enough that every participant practices every technique.
Nonviolent Communication (NVC), developed by Marshall Rosenberg, centers on expressing feelings and needs without judgment. IBC overlaps in its respect for the other party's underlying needs, but is oriented toward negotiation outcomes and professional settings where naming feelings is often not the available move.
Where to go deeper
The ideas behind IBC are developed at book length in Social Heuristics: Communication and Negotiation for Highly Logical People by Vance Crowe. The course itself, dates, format, and what the three days look like, is at articulate.ventures/ibc.