Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz

BATB score: 7/10 ⚠️

Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator, has all the legitimate street cred to write this book about How to Negotiate with Anyone

Best as: however, this book was difficult to follow and hard to grasp any actionable insights; ie. from negotiating for hostage release to negotiating your salary within the same page, numerous anecdotes that at the end all sounds the same, difficult one-liner concepts too fast to hold onto

Best to: is this a first draft? if yes, okay then, not bad; but you sold a million copies like this?!? 🫠

BATB lingering thought: do people still negotiate the same way though now that the world has changed? 🌎

BATB Key 🔑 Takeaways:

*Always negotiate an odd specific number like 1759 and not 1800

*7-35-55: 7% words spoken, 35% tone of voice, 55% body language and face

*Use late night low FM DJ soft mellow calm voice

*Leave at least four seconds of silence

*Name the emotion, “it seems/sounds/looks like…”

*Ask the job interviewer “What does it take to be successful here?”

*Answer “Give me 10 million or else he dies!” with “How am I supposed to get 10 million?”

Best for: shopping market negotiation, when asking for 100 (from 150), always ask for 65, then move to 85, then 95, and agree at 100 🛍️🛍️

Best quotes: “you will always have to deal with forceful type A people who prefer consent to collaboration”

“If ‘YES’ can be so damn uncomfortable and ‘NO’ such a relief, why have we fetishized one and demonized the other?”

“Success isn’t the hostage-taker saying, ‘Yes, we have a deal’; success comes afterward, when the freed hostage says to your face, ‘Thank you’.”