11. Christopher Voss - FBI Hostage Negotiator

Life Done Different

The phone rings. You pick it up and on the other line you hear a voice that says: “We have your wife and child. You have 24 hours to get us 5 million dollars or else they die.” What do you do? I can’t imagine what getting a call like that would feel like, let alone what to do. But for Chris Voss (@VossNegotiation), this would have been just another day in the office. For 24 years, Chris was an FBI hostage negotiator, during 4 of which, he actually lead the bureau as chief international hostage and kidnapping negotiator. I struggle to think of a more high stakes, high stress job, so I wanted to talk to Chris about why he chose this route. Naturally, we talked a lot about negotiation but we also talk about the human element of being a hostage negotiator and like how do you deal with the fact that someones life is in your hands and what happens if you fail? Aside from the heavy stuff, Chris was also kind enough to indulge me in a negotiation role play and suffice it to say that it did not go how I expected, but perhaps that was to Knowing Chris’ background made him an intimidating guy to talk to - I was nervous the whole time and felt like he could have picked me apart at any moment had he wanted to. Nevertheless, it was super exhilarating and it changed a lot of what I think about when it comes to negotiations so please enjoy this conversation with Chris Voss.