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Introduction

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz is a book published by Harper Business in May 2016. Its core teachings lie in how to excel at negotiating and what traits great negotiators have. These skills can be applied in everyday life and business. Unlike other books that focus on cold logic, Never Split The Difference focuses on the emotional side of bargaining and human psychology. This is why the tactics from the books are so versatile. Chris Voss’s 20+ years in the FBI dealing with hostage negotiations made this possible. 

Book Information and Rating

Author: Chris Voss with Tahl Raz

Cover Art by: Jarrod Taylor 

Published by: Harper Business; 1st edition (May 17, 2016)

Genre: Business & Personal Finance 

Print Length: 288 pages 

Cinemabooks rating: 8.50

About The Author:

Chris Voss is an international FBI hostage negotiator with more than two decades of experience. He has worked in hostage negotiations in New York, The Philippines, and the Middle East. Chriss Voss is also the founder and CEO of The BlackSwan Group, a company that teaches the art of skillful negotiations. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University and has given lectures at Harvard Law School, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and the University of Southern California.

Plot Summary

Never Split The Difference’s primary goal is to teach you the necessary skills to become a great negotiator. As Chriss Voss states, “Negotiation is the heart of collaboration. It is what makes conflict potentially meaningful and productive for all parties”. With this in mind, Chris focuses on helping you get the most out of all the negotiations you find yourself in. This can include every aspect of your life because almost everything revolves around bargains and negotiations.

What You’ll Learn in This Book 

In Chriss Voss’s Never Split the Difference, you will find the tools necessary to excel at any negotiation. You will learn the most critical asset in successful negotiations, the techniques to implement to get the best deal possible and to understand your counterpart’s mentality. In summary, you will learn the following:

1. The Importance of Active Listening.
2. The psychological concepts that are present in every deal and bargain
3. Techniques such as mirroring, silences, and tone of voice to influence specific behaviors
4. How to start negotiations with “No’s.”
5. The art of nonverbal communication and much more.

Structure 

The structure of this book is very simple and straight to the point. It’s composed of 10 chapters and about 30-40 pages between them. It starts with the most fundamental aspects of negotiations, and with each chapter, it expands on that information. Each chapter tells a new story of Chris Voss’s experience as a hostage negotiator for the FBI. It goes into specific details about what worked for that case and what didn’t. After the details then, he talks about that chapter’s lesson. At the end of each chapter, Chris Voss summarizes the critical lessons learned, which can be a great way to ground the reader if overwhelmed. Since the hostage story is first rather than the lesson, I found myself going back and forth to understand better the chapter’s critical concept. However, it’s only a minor inconvenience at the beginning, and the stories do an excellent job of entertaining you while you absorb and grasp its teachings.

Atmosphere 

Never Split the Difference’s atmosphere is business-like, rich in knowledge, and suspenseful. It starts with the story, and once it ends, Chris pours all the details and lessons in massive amounts. Analyzing the story and explaining its details while teaching you takes many pages and is always exciting. In only one chapter, Chris Voss can explain more about negotiations, tactics, skills, and mindset than most business books. As such, the atmosphere carries an intense feeling of writing everything down and not forgetting it. Due to the nature of Chris’s work, it also has a sense of thrill and curiosity to see what happens with the hostage cases. It’s one of the main reasons why Never Split The Difference doesn’t get boring. 

The Good

What makes Never Split the Difference stand out from many business books, besides its storytelling, knowledge, and atmosphere, is the author’s experience with life-and-death hostage negotiations. It has real stakes at hand because if the hostage negotiations don’t work, then people die. Most books don’t have that huge stakes, nor the decades Chris Voss has on the matter. As such, learning from someone who can negotiate in hostile environments successfully gives you more confidence in making deals with other less aggressive people. Also, the book is designed for everybody, not just for sellers. 

Anyone can benefit from its teachings, and everyone can apply them daily. With this in mind, it offers the general audience an easier way to use the skills in other interactions that don’t involve selling a product. Chris Voss also focuses on the emotional side of negotiating, which is more important than some of the skills within the book. Never Split the Difference breaks the mold that negotiations are for the cold of heart. Instead, it teaches that it’s for those who possess a higher ability to feel empathy and emotional intelligence.

The Bad

“Never Split the Difference” is filled with amazing knowledge and writing, but it could have been better in some aspects. For starters, the book switches between the story and the teachings. This is great in some situations because it highlights what went wrong. However, it also interrupts the story’s flow and lesson. In the end, I found myself trying to organize the knowledge apart from the story and then seeing the whole picture. The fact that the book has so much wisdom didn’t help because it could get overwhelming. Although each chapter has vital lessons at the end, it could be helpful for you to make a side note to find a way to implement its teachings easier. 

Another annoying thing in the story was how long the chapters were between them. It reached the point that you started counting pages to see if you were getting close to ending it. Ironically this book is well-told and not so lengthy (300 pages), but its chapters are so long that you think it’s 500 pages. If the chapters were shorter and the info stayed the same, then most readers would speed through this book. This, however, was different for me because this was the slowest book I’ve read all year. This is not because it was boring or wrong but because the chapters made it feel longer than necessary. However, if you can get past the long chapters and the changes between the story and teachings, the skills you gain here will impact your life forever.

Conclusion

Everything in life boils down to negotiation. As such, it’s important to hone the skills necessary to succeed at bargaining. Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss will help you understand the ways of negotiation and how to win at them. It combines powerful decades-long experience with great storytelling and knowledge. The chapters may be a bit long and the information overwhelming, but with Chris Voss’s key insights on each chapter, it becomes easier with time. If you are a businessman or seller, this book is a must, and if you are an everyday “Joe,” having these skills in your arsenal will be a game changer. 

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