Chris Voss

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• Efficiency in negotiation

  “It's not a sin to not get the deal. That's a sin to take a long time to not get the deal, or it's a sin to take a long time to get a bad deal.”

  Our noteChris explains why walking away early from bad deals is crucial for success.

• The win-win trap

  “I know that if someone opens a negotiation with me and they say right off the bat, look, I want to do a win-win deal with you, that correlates extremely highly with someone who's trying to pick my pocket.”

  Our noteChris warns about people who use the phrase 'win-win' too early in a conversation.

• Generosity in business

  “If they figured out something that they know is valuable for me and they've just done it and they've just offered it, like right off the bat, no strings attached.”

  Our noteChris describes the type of people he actually wants to do business with.

• Continuous learning mindset

  “if we did everything we know how to do and it wasn't enough, that means we're not smart enough, we got to get better.”

  Our noteChris reflects on a failed hostage negotiation that drove him to seek better methods.

• Internal team chaos

  “Just because we're a mess doesn't mean they got their act together and the bad guys didn't have their act together.”

  Our noteChris explains that both sides of a negotiation often suffer from internal lack of collaboration.

• Value of specificity

  “It's specificity. You're looking for it. I learned to look for it in kidnapping negotiations.”

  Our noteChris explains that specific threats are more credible than vague ones.

• Handling aggressive negotiators

  “If I got a cutthroat aggressor on the other side, I'm going to drop into passive aggressive behavior to slow them down and wear them out.”

  Our noteVoss discusses how to neutralize a high-friction or combative opponent.

• Vision drives decision

  “vision drives decision. So if you're really going to comply, if I give in and when I say, how do I know you're going to follow through?”

  Our noteVoss explains how to test if an opponent has a real plan to follow through on a deal.

• Gut vs Fear

  “learn the difference between your gut and your amygdala, for lack of a better term, your fear centers, and know which one is which. And listen to your gut.”

  Our noteChris advises distinguishing between irrational fear and accurate intuitive signals.

• Power of humanization

  “you're harder to kill. If you've been humanized, you're harder to harm.”

  Our noteHe explains why establishing a personal identity is a powerful defense mechanism.