The FBI Negotiation Masterclass - How to Read Minds, Build Trust, and Stay Calm

Negotiate Anything

American Negotiation Institute

Education, Business, Self-improvement

4.7 • 748 Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2025

⏱️ 132 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What can business leaders, parents, and professionals learn from the people who negotiate with spies, terrorists, and hostage-takers? In this FBI Negotiation Masterclass, three elite agents reveal the human side of influence — the small behavioral cues, emotional intelligence, and calm under pressure that determine whether a situation escalates or resolves. Joe Navarro shares how observation and benign curiosity can turn fear into cooperation. Gary Noesner breaks down why likability is the secret weapon in any negotiation. And Melissa Fortunato shows how empathy and diversity save lives — and how the same principles can transform conversations at home and at work. Whether you’re facing conflict in the boardroom or at the kitchen table, this masterclass shows you how to communicate like the people trained to do it when everything’s on the line. Featured Episodes Featuring: The Power of Benign Curiosity in Negotiation with Joe Navarro — Former FBI Special Agent & Body Language Expert, Author of Be Exceptional The FBI’s Top Hostage Negotiator Reveals What Actually Works in Negotiation – with Gary Noesner — Former Chief of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit, Author of Stalling for Time The Secret Strategy FBI Negotiators Use — And You Can Too (with Melissa Fortunato) ⁠Melissa Fortunato — FBI Crisis Negotiator & Undercover Agent⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to this negotiation masterclass edition of Negotiate Anything. With over 1,600 episodes featuring
0:06.9	some of the world's brightest minds, we've carefully curated three powerful conversations for you.
0:12.6	What makes this so special is that you'll hear how different experts from different industries
0:17.0	approach the same challenge in their own unique ways.
0:25.4	Our goal is to give you multiple perspectives so you can build your own unique style.
0:30.5	Success doesn't look the same for everyone, and in this masterclass, you will see exactly why.
0:31.9	Let's dive in.
0:34.5	Joe, thanks for joining us today.
0:36.0	It's my pleasure.
0:38.9	I've waited, because I know you stalk me online.
0:41.5	So I've waited a long time for this.
0:44.7	And this is going to be fun.
0:46.0	Agreed.
0:46.6	Agreed.
0:50.5	So let's start off by telling the listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do.
0:51.3	Yeah.
0:52.0	Thank you.
0:55.8	So for 25 years, I worked for the FBI,
0:58.3	mostly working counterintelligence.
1:00.5	So I was a spy catcher. And then 15 of those years I spent in this very small unit,
1:06.8	this elite unit within the FBI called the behavioral program.
1:11.9	And that was created to take a look at spies and see how we can get into their heads and
	...

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