1: The trial is beginning. The defense attorney rises to give their opening statement.
They begin by mentioning everything their client is accused of. They list out all the weaknesses of their case.
Why?
The technique is called “taking the sting out,” Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.
And it applies to more than just the court of law.
To prepare … continue reading
1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
This week we’ve been exploring ideas and lessons around becoming a better negotiator from Chris Voss, the FBI’s lead hostage negotiator, and his book Never Split the Difference… continue reading
1: Imagine it’s Thanksgiving. Sitting in the living room is a grandfather who’s grumbling.
“He is cranky but the underlying emotion is a sad sense of loneliness from his family never seeing him,” Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.
He’s grumpy because he feels like he never sees the family. And he feels lonely. So he’s expressing his feelings … continue reading
1: It’s hot. A sweltering hot summer’s day.
Three fugitives are trapped in an apartment on the twenty-seventh floor of an apartment building in Harlem. Chris Voss, the head of the New York City FBI Crisis Negotiation Team, stands in the hallway on the other side of the door.
Yesterday, we looked at the importance of understanding the other person’s emotions in any negotiation.
And while the fugitives were … continue reading
1: The impulsive boss was known for his “drive-bys.”
Another “urgent, poorly thought out assignment that created a lot of unnecessary work,” former FBI negotiator Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference. “Past attempts at any kind of debate created immediate pushback.”
“I think I have a better way” was always interpreted by the boss as “the lazy way.”
It was the end of a long consulting engagement. Thousands of … continue reading
1: Chris Voss and the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit were stuck.
They were five hours into a negotiation with bank robbers who had taken three hostages at a Chase Bank in Brooklyn.
The year was 1993. The problem? They were limited by the negotiating approach that hostage negotiators were using at the time, Chris writes in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.
“We … continue reading
1: The call came in at 8:30 a.m. A robbery at a Chase Bank in Brooklyn had gone south. Three bank employees were being held as hostages.
Chris Voss and the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit had been called to the location. The Negotiation Operation Center (NOC) had been set up in a building across a narrow street from the Chase branch.
“The word when we came on the scene was … continue reading
1: New York City. September 30, 1993. It was a brisk autumn morning. The time was 8:30 AM.
“Two masked bank robbers trigger an alarm as they storm into the Chase Manhattan Bank at Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street in Brooklyn,” Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.
Three bank employees are inside: two female tellers and a male security guard. “The robbers crack … continue reading
That is an understandable question, writes FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.
The answer? Everything.
Because “life is negotiation,” he writes. “The majority of the interactions we have at work and at home are negotiations that boil down to the expression of a simple, animalistic urge: I want.
“I want to free the hostages,” may be relevant only … continue reading
1: It was the first day of Harvard Law School’s Winter Negotiation course.
It was “the Olympic trials for negotiating,” Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It. “The best and brightest compete to get into this class, and it is filled with brilliant Harvard students getting law and business degrees and hotshot students from other top Boston universities like MIT … continue reading
