Never Split the Difference

Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

By: Chris Voss, Tahl Raz

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

This international bestseller, with more than 5 million copies sold, offers a field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations—whether in the boardroom, in your community, or at home.

Life is a series of negotiations, and negotiation is at the heart of collaboration—whether you are a business executive, a salesperson, a parent , a community leader, or a spouse. As a former FBI hostage negotiator, Chris Voss gives you the tools to be effective in any situation: negotiating a business deal, buying (or selling) a car, negotiating a salary, acquiring a home, renegotiating rent, deliberating with your partner, or communicating with your children. Taking the power of persuasion, empathy, active listening, and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any difficult conversation or challenging situation. This book is a masterclass in influencing others, no matter the circumstances.

After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, 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 distills the Voss method, revealing the skills that matter most when it comes to achieving your goals in both your professional and personal life.

Step-by-step, Voss show you how to:

• Establish Rapport
• Create Trust with Tactical Empathy
• Gain the Permission to Persuade
• Shape What Is Fair
• Calibrate Questions
• Transform Conflict into Collaboration
• Spot Liars
• Create Breakthroughs by Revealing the Unknown Unknowns

Never Split the Difference is your definitive source for defusing potential crises, winning people over, and achieving your goals at work and at home.

Great Bits of Information

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would say that there is a decent amount of information that is presented to the listener of this book.

Any additional comments?

Once you complete the first couple of chapters the book becomes much more interesting. I do like hearing some of the issues the author has dealt with as a hostage negotiator and the lessons learned from his teams mistakes. I also like the lessons he attributes to those who are untrained but he had been mindful enough to pay attention to tactics that would work and find out what the process was that made it work and then employ those tactics. This has great benefit for bargaining deals. I will be using these tactics in various situations but will find it most helpful when buying real estate.

Good ideas & technique, ruined a bit by the reader

Chris Voss reasons out some logical and useful perspective-changing facts, and derives practical tactics them; the book was really good and in this regard.

Unfortunately, the reader often went counter to the author's intended emotion in his narration. Had I not heard Voss relate some of his stores in videos on the internet, I would not have realised that the reader narrated Voss' words in a tone that was the very opposite of that which Voss actually uses and advocates. Often the narrator read Voss' words as hard-ass, when that is not how Voss says them at all.

Because Voss emphasises how voice tone can matter more than word meaning, this was a fault that as a life-and-death hostage negotiator he might correctly call a grave error.

I teach negotiations, and this material is great.

I learned about this book on a podcast, and it intrigued me. It is difficult to find anything new on negotiations. This book delivered. a must listen.

Worth the time

Great techniques, but the presentation is a bit boring. I started using some of these techniques to advance my business deals and manage my clients expectations, but it's too early to tell if they show any positive results.

Brilliant

This book opens your mind to a new way of thinking, that will change your life for the better. the skills are easily understandable and readily applicable. I'm incredibly happy to have stumbled upon this book