Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

by Chris Voss, Tahl Raz

Overview

A former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new, field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations—whether in the boardroom or at home.

** A Wall Street Journal Bestseller **

After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a hostage negotiator brought him face-to-face with a range of criminals, including bank robbers and terrorists. Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator. Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss’s head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues succeed where it mattered most: saving lives. In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles—counterintuitive tactics and strategies—you too can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal life.

Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car, negotiating a salary, buying a home, renegotiating rent, deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062407801
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/17/2016
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	8,549
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Chris Voss is one of the preeminent practitioners and professors of negotiation skills in the world. He is the founder and principal of The Black Swan Group, a consulting firm that provides training and advises Fortune 500 companies through complex negotiations. He currently teaches at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and has lectured at other leading universities, including Harvard Law School, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Tahl Raz uncovers big ideas and great stories that ignite change and growth in people and organizations. He is an award-winning journalist and co-author of the New York Times bestseller Never Eat Alone. When not researching or writing, he coaches executives, lectures widely on the forces transforming the new world of work, and serves as an editorial consultant for several national firms. He invites readers to e-mail him at [e-mail] and to visit his website at www.tahlraz.com.

Editorial Reviews

Former FBI Hostage Negotiator Chris Voss has few equals when it comes to high stakes negotiations. Whether for your business or your personal life, his techniques work.

Joe Navarro

Emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence without sacrificing deal-making power. From a former hostage negotiator - someone who couldn’t take no for an answer - which makes it fascinating reading. But it’s also eminently practical. In these pages, you will find the techniques for getting the deal you want.

Daniel H. Pink

02/08/2016
Voss writes that “kidnappers are just businessmen trying to get the best price,” and he should know; before founding a consulting firm, the Black Swan Group, he spent over two decades as an FBI hostage negotiator. While taking an executive negotiating course at Harvard, he realized that his hostage-saving techniques were well suited to the business world. Voss, who believes that “life is negotiation,” has set out to help readers get what they want out of any given situation, without harming the other parties. Along with telling stories of his time in the FBI, he guides readers through key lessons, such as how to “confront without confrontation,” understand an opponent’s emotions, become good at saying no, manipulate your opponent’s reality, and develop the calm but authoritative vocal style he calls “the late-night FM DJ voice.” Chatty and friendly and packed with helpful resources, this is an intriguing approach to business and personal negotiations. Agent: Steve Ross, Abrams Artists Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

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