Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Chris Voss (Author), Michael Kramer (Narrator), HarperAudio (Publisher)

4.7 38,533 ratings

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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.

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' head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues succeed where it mattered most: in 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 lives.

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.

Listening Length

8 hours and 7 minutes
Author

Chris Voss
Narrator

Michael Kramer
Audible release date

May 17 2016
Language

English
Publisher

HarperAudio
ASIN

B07286DBMD
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	8 hours and 7 minutes
Author	Chris Voss
Narrator	Michael Kramer
Audible.ca Release Date	May 17 2016
Publisher	HarperAudio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07286DBMD
Best Sellers Rank	#38 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #1 in Negotiating #1 in Career Guides (Books) #1 in Negotiating Skills (Books)

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

38,533 global ratings

5 star		80%
4 star		13%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Amazon Customer

So far so good!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

I am half way through the book and really enjoy the way its written (good stories, examples and interesting). Not like reading your typical "how to" or self improvement book. Really enjoying this one!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

GCW PortMan

ACES

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 25, 2023

Verified Purchase

This is the ultimate -- it's not logic - it's the animal spirits of our emotions, desires, wants and hoped for needs that has to be addressed in any negotiation - so true ! I'm only into the book 25 pages or so though...

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Gift

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 20, 2023

Verified Purchase

Haven't heard anything back regarding this book that I gifted.

Helpful

Michelle Kahn

Never split the difference

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 30, 2023

Verified Purchase

Brilliant!

Helpful

Giklodia S.

Great book

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 18, 2023

Verified Purchase

To anybody who wants to get better in life

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Paul Hewitt

Great book

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 17, 2023

Verified Purchase

Great book, lots of insight and entertaining to read

Helpful

Mathieu

Applicable to everyone no matter what

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 29, 2022

Verified Purchase

Primarily a story book. Chapters are composed of bite-sized, easily digestible sections that grip the reader. Through story telling the theory behind negotiating is easily conveyed to the reader. These memorable stories make it easier to practice the principles in your daily life. This book educates us on how to converse with manners. There is no one who will not benefit from reading this book.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

dave jhonson

Très bon livre

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 17, 2023

Verified Purchase

Je recommande ce livre pour ceux qui veulent comprendre la négociation sur plusieurs plans de la vie

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

kenny loh

You only this book for negotiation

Reviewed in Singapore 🇸🇬 on April 17, 2022

Verified Purchase

I have the kindle version. Bought it becoz it is on sale.

Patrick Ong

Awesome

Reviewed in Singapore 🇸🇬 on September 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

Excellent

Pearls

Substandard product delivered

Reviewed in Singapore 🇸🇬 on November 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

I am extremely disappointed with the quality of the book delivered. When i first received it, the book was dusty and dirty but i decided to not go through the hassle of retuning it. After I started reading the book, I got to page 166 only to realize there was no page 167 and I have a total of 17 pages missing from my book and I am completely annoyed that I am not able to finish reading my book

16 people found this helpful

はろだいん

The person across the table is never the problem. The unsolved issue is. So focus on the issue.

Reviewed in Japan 🇯🇵 on January 11, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book does fit its description: a manual written by an FBI hostage negotiator.

The problem is that the discussion fails to consistently & convincingly bridge the divide between hostage negotiation and everyday layperson or business negotiation.

Sure, the anecdotes that begin each chapter with a live hostage negotiation are exciting and well-written storytelling. However, the author too often treats the other party in negotiation like some crazed terrorist beyond help or understanding. Like they're subhumans that won't submit to logic, reason, or peaceable negotiations. Yes, they may be inhumane terrorists or criminals to the USA FBI, but in their mind or culture, they're reasonable people.

The language is also demeaning and juiced with unconscious bias. For example, in describing a former role as suicide hotline operator, he labels frequent callers as "highly dysfunctional people, energy vampires whom no one else would listen to anymore." That kind of blatant disregard for people quickly saps the author's credibility. Whether they are or aren't is irrelevant; it's the tone and attitude and stereotyped labeling that hurt the lessons delivered. Furthermore, the author seems to take a strange pride in dealing or shutting off these crazed crackpots. "I was a natural," he'd brag, or describe how consistently he out-negotiated money from Harvard law students by asking, "How am I supposed to do that?" He constantly talks about being "eager to put my new skills to the test" for hostage negotiations without going into depth about what those skills are, or how they'd apply to our real-life scenarios.

The book's saving grace is that there are real-life examples, such as negotiating a sale price or business deal with people at Coca Cola or the local used car dealership. It's just that those examples rarely tie back to the hostage negotiations because the people on the other side are labeled and characterized so differently. I can't frame an experienced landlord as terrorists described as maniacal killers without some guidance.

It also feels robotic at times, like the author -- as FBI negotiator -- is just trying to get a desired result rather than trying to make a genuine emotional connection and effort to understand the other side. When criminals like bank robber Watts and the devout Christian are successfully negotiated to surrender, Voss ends the story, never telling us whether or not the people actually reform, or if they are treated fairly under arrest. As such, the negotiations feel artificial and hollow, in the sense that the FBI got what it wanted, but did the other side? Did they feel betrayed after being handcuffed and led to prison?

Negotiations in everyday life don't end with one party jailed, or terrorists blacklisted. These are real human beings, and how they view the result is as important as the technique used to receive it, because in real life negotiations, you often have to continue the relationship, or see the other party again. The book reads like it was written by a cop -- or worse yet, a government official. He does discuss the psychology and emotional aspect of negotiation to great lengths, but it often reads like he's maniacally trying to bring the other side to justice, overly convinced of being in the right, as the language just smacks of self-righteousness. It dehumanizes the people on the other side of the negotiation, as objects to be manipulated to an end, rather than human beings with whom you have to continue to deal amicably. It feels like I'm talking to a cop that has stopped me for driving over the speed limit, and he's pointing his flashlight at me, treating my explanations like those of a greasy criminal, and then talking me down with an overbearing air of mm-hmm superiority.

Techniques like mirroring, labeling, Ackerman bargaining, and categorization of Analyst/Accommodator/Assertives are applicable! I gained a lot from viewing things from those lenses. The author also redeems himself by writing, "Taking a positive, constructive approach to conflict involves understanding that the bond is fundamental to any resolution. Never create an enemy."

"The person across the table is never the problem. The unsolved issue is. So focus on the issue. This is one of the most basic tactics for avoiding emotional escalations."

Those kinds of statements ring true and applicable!

It's just that the FBI hostage negotiation angle too often focuses on the mental derangement and instability, inhumanity, or opacity of the hostage taker, terrorist or not. Take out some of that thrill and self-pats-on-the-back, and this book is fundamentally solid.

5 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Not just a book about sales

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 28, 2023

Verified Purchase

I grabbed the book expecting to learn only a couple of techniques to use in selling. However I was wrong (in a good way). It uncovered far broader potential of negotiation that I thought was possible.

It shows how you can voice your opinion without being harsh by using empathy.
It helps you reveal the "Black Swans" - those hidden motives that make us think the other person's behaviour is crazy.
And most importantly (at least for me) it allows you to show your boundaries and your demands without being seen as harsh and selfish.

The book uncovers and explains more about human nature and you can find references from other persuasion, negotiation and psychology books. The author mentions newly found information that forms a more objective opinion on them.

I give 5 stars because the text is easy to read, easy to digest and easy to implement. There are also key notes at the end of each chapter that makes it easier to go back and study effectively.

2 people found this helpful

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Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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