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The James Altucher Show

The Secrets of Negotiation from the FBI Top Negotiator | Chris Voss

The James Altucher Show

James Altucher

Education, Business

4.62.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2023

⏱️ 74 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Terrorists have moms," he said.Jeffrey Schilling was kidnapped in the Philippines and held hostage for 7 and a half months. The terrorists said they were torturing him.But Chris Voss didn't fall for it.Chris is a former FBI hostage negotiator and the author of Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It."Find a way to mention his mother's concern for him," Chris' boss said."I remember thinking, 'That's the dumbest idea I ever heard. A terrorist is going to care about this guys mother?'""But my boss had great insight. And I didn't see any downside to it. So in the middle of the negotiation I said, 'Ya know Jeff's mom is really worried about him.'""What happened next?" I asked."This murderous, sociopathic terrorist said, 'His mother knows about this? You tell his mother he's OK.'"Months later, Jeffrey came home.Some hostage negotiation tactics won't work in business or with your wife.But these 5 tactics will...1. Use the "hand-cuff method":Use this line when someone yells at you: "I can't hear you when you're yelling at me."The logic is simple. People yell when they want you to listen.But if you eliminate their reward (being heard), then they have to comply. And you'll never get yelled at again. 2. Push past threats:"People who make threats always leave themselves an out," Chris said.But the truth is they need you. If you're not talking, there's no deal. They could lose out on a sale, a new employee, or millions of dollars."The point of a negotiation is to find out how much money is on the table," Chris said. "You have to push the other side as far as they'll go... without insulting them."  3. Gain the upper hand 100% of the time:"You can gain the upper hand by giving respect first," Chris said.Which a lot of people are afraid to do..."But that's exactly why you gain the upper hand," Chris said.  4. Become less busy:Rest is the new hustle."Anytime you slow down to do things more deliberately, you save time." Chris calls this, "The delay that saves time."  5. Show fearlessnessFear can be useful. But not in a negotiation. "Showing fearlessness is a great way to inspire confidence in you from the other side," Chris said.Forget what you have to lose. And focus on the reward.I can't afford to lose all my money again. So if you're on this list... don't listen to this interview:A) You're related to meB) You work with meC) You want to sell me somethingEverybody else is welcome.------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe  to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This isn't your average business podcast and he's not your average host.

0:06.7

This is the James Altiger show.

0:17.8

Chris Voss, I am not going to negotiate with you because I read a series of negotiations

0:22.4

you did in your book, never split the difference negotiating as if your life depended on it.

0:27.8

You were the lead international crisis negotiator for the FBI for many years.

0:32.5

You worked for the FBI for 24 years.

0:34.4

You've been in 150 negotiations, often involving life or death.

0:39.7

Give me an example of one.

0:40.8

There are many examples in the book, of course, in the book's excellent.

0:43.5

But by the way, the whole book's about negotiating the relationship between your hostage

0:48.4

and negotiations and your more current business of helping people with business negotiations.

0:52.7

So it's maybe the best book on negotiating I've ever read.

0:56.0

Thank you.

0:56.4

What was an example of a hostage negotiation?

0:59.3

A lot of the stuff for mostly international kidnappings and kidnapping is a commodities game

1:05.3

for us to talk about.

1:06.3

Which, by the way, never would have thought of it that way.

1:07.9

Right, exactly.

1:08.8

But in any negotiation, you've got to know how the other guy looks at it and how they see themselves.

1:13.1

And kidnappers actually see themselves as just hard bargain in commodities, guys.

1:17.3

We're working in case Steve Santani, a Fox News reporter, gets grabbed in a guy's a strip.

1:22.4

And I plug into Fox News and they're very receptive to us being involved.

...

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