FBI
Becomes a lead negotiator
During a 24-year Bureau career, leads crisis negotiations in New York and later international kidnapping cases.1
01
Ooléle portrait
Person · CV
Negotiator and instructor
Chris Voss
Former FBI lead international kidnapping negotiator
Chris Voss is the founder and CEO of The Black Swan Group. Before training executives and commercial teams, he spent 24 years with the FBI, becoming its lead international kidnapping negotiator and the lead crisis negotiator for the New York City division. He is also the co-author of Never Split the Difference, which adapts techniques developed in crisis situations to business negotiation.1,2
01 — The profile
Background & perspective
At the FBI, Chris Voss worked on crises, hostage incidents and international kidnappings. He also represented the Bureau on the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group and served on New York’s Joint Terrorist Task Force. His method grew around a simple idea: reduce perceived threat, listen closely enough to articulate the other person’s world and uncover information that remains hidden during direct confrontation.1
After public service, Voss translated those practices into business negotiation through The Black Swan Group. His teaching emphasizes tactical empathy, mirrors, emotion labels, calibrated questions and the pursuit of a “that’s right” response showing that the counterpart feels understood. He has taught negotiation at business schools including USC and Georgetown and published Never Split the Difference with Tahl Raz in 2016.1,2
02 — Verified landmarks
The journey in a few dates
A selective timeline established from identified sources.
03 — Ooléle
Read next
04 — Transparency
Profile sources
- 01Chris VossThe Black Swan Group
- 02Never Split the DifferenceHarperCollins