1 00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:03,780 [PHONE DIALING] 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:12,870 MAN: Hello. 3 00:00:12,870 --> 00:00:14,270 CHRIS: Hi, is this is Billy? 4 00:00:14,270 --> 00:00:14,860 MAN: Joe? 5 00:00:14,855 --> 00:00:15,735 CHRIS: This is Chris. 6 00:00:15,730 --> 00:00:17,260 My name is Chris. 7 00:00:17,260 --> 00:00:20,100 Joe's gone now, and I'm going to be talking to you now. 8 00:00:20,100 --> 00:00:21,650 MAN: Listen, we'll turn ourselves 9 00:00:21,650 --> 00:00:24,020 in if you do what we tell you. 10 00:00:24,020 --> 00:00:25,750 NEWSCASTER: The scene unfolding yesterday 11 00:00:25,750 --> 00:00:28,030 was like one from a movie. 12 00:00:28,030 --> 00:00:30,520 A woman taken hostage in the middle of the day 13 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,640 by a criminal claiming to be armed. 14 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,340 In situations like this, hostage negotiators 15 00:00:36,340 --> 00:00:39,790 are charged with making split second decisions that 16 00:00:39,790 --> 00:00:41,740 could mean life or death. 17 00:00:41,740 --> 00:00:43,960 JOURNALIST: Negotiators are working around the clock 18 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:45,160 to help secure her release. 19 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:47,350 BROADCASTER: A tense hostage crisis 20 00:00:47,350 --> 00:00:49,330 that is now entering its fourth night. 21 00:00:49,330 --> 00:00:52,400 REPORTER: The deadline for her execution has passed. 22 00:00:52,398 --> 00:00:54,938 NEWSPERSON: With us now to help break down the investigation, 23 00:00:54,940 --> 00:00:57,740 retired FBI Special Agent hostage negotiator Christopher 24 00:00:57,740 --> 00:00:58,240 Voss. 25 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,670 ANNOUNCER: He is former FBI lead international kidnapping 26 00:01:00,670 --> 00:01:01,450 negotiator. 27 00:01:01,450 --> 00:01:03,670 WOMAN: He is very much informed on these matters. 28 00:01:03,670 --> 00:01:05,710 Chris, I wanted to go to you with things 29 00:01:05,710 --> 00:01:08,580 I heard in that press conference just moments ago. 30 00:01:08,583 --> 00:01:10,753 CHRISTOPHER VOSS: Everything in life is negotiation. 31 00:01:10,750 --> 00:01:13,050 Life is a negotiation. 32 00:01:13,050 --> 00:01:16,000 The human nature rules that apply to all people, 33 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,530 it doesn't matter if you're a terrorist or a businessman. 34 00:01:18,532 --> 00:01:22,472 [MUSIC PLAYING] 35 00:01:37,730 --> 00:01:39,950 You're in negotiations all day long. 36 00:01:39,950 --> 00:01:42,260 If you want somebody to say yes to anything, 37 00:01:42,260 --> 00:01:43,760 you're in a negotiation. 38 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,610 If somebody is trying to get you to say yes to something, 39 00:01:46,610 --> 00:01:48,560 you're in a negotiation. 40 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,190 If you say, I want or you think I need, 41 00:01:52,190 --> 00:01:54,230 you're in a negotiation. 42 00:01:54,230 --> 00:01:57,260 You're probably in three to seven negotiations 43 00:01:57,260 --> 00:01:58,610 every single day. 44 00:01:58,610 --> 00:02:01,700 The stereotype of negotiation is that it's 45 00:02:01,700 --> 00:02:04,610 about being the biggest jerk in the room, 46 00:02:04,610 --> 00:02:08,000 that it's who's the loudest, who's the most aggressive, 47 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,690 who takes the most at the other person's expense. 48 00:02:11,690 --> 00:02:16,130 The stereotype is that I win means you got to lose, 49 00:02:16,130 --> 00:02:17,960 and I beat you. 50 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:19,280 That is not the case. 51 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,030 Great negotiation is about great collaboration. 52 00:02:23,030 --> 00:02:27,650 It's about several people faced with different aspects 53 00:02:27,650 --> 00:02:29,480 of the same problem. 54 00:02:29,478 --> 00:02:31,518 The adversary is not the person across the table. 55 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,070 The adversary is the situation. 56 00:02:34,070 --> 00:02:37,010 The person across the table is a counterpart 57 00:02:37,010 --> 00:02:39,500 that's struggling with some aspect of the same problem 58 00:02:39,500 --> 00:02:41,250 that you are. 59 00:02:41,250 --> 00:02:45,680 You work with them and solve that problem together, 60 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:47,480 and you're both better off. 61 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,720 In my class, I'm going to give you all of the strategies 62 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:54,260 and tactics that I developed as one of the top hostage 63 00:02:54,260 --> 00:02:56,510 negotiators in the world. 64 00:02:56,510 --> 00:02:58,850 You're going to learn everything from bargaining 65 00:02:58,850 --> 00:03:01,520 to reading body language and speech 66 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,970 patterns to the neuroscience that can literally 67 00:03:04,970 --> 00:03:06,830 bend people's reality. 68 00:03:06,825 --> 00:03:08,455 Most importantly, you're going to learn 69 00:03:08,450 --> 00:03:12,500 how to achieve your goals through collaboration 70 00:03:12,500 --> 00:03:15,110 and the use of tactical empathy that 71 00:03:15,110 --> 00:03:19,890 creates trust-based influence. 72 00:03:19,890 --> 00:03:23,960 I'm Chris Voss, and this is my MasterClass. 73 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,700 [MUSIC PLAYING] 74 00:03:30,980 --> 00:03:34,610 Empathy is becoming completely aware of the other side's 75 00:03:34,610 --> 00:03:36,710 perspective, their point of view, 76 00:03:36,710 --> 00:03:41,570 their take on things, how they see it, and what they feel. 77 00:03:41,570 --> 00:03:43,430 It's not agreement in any way. 78 00:03:43,430 --> 00:03:44,660 It's not compassion. 79 00:03:44,660 --> 00:03:45,830 It's not sympathy. 80 00:03:45,830 --> 00:03:50,030 Let's tactically take what we know to be the case 81 00:03:50,030 --> 00:03:52,010 and apply it in our interactions. 82 00:03:52,010 --> 00:03:54,520 You know, the human nature rules that apply to all people, 83 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,070 it doesn't matter if you're a terrorist or a businessman. 84 00:03:58,070 --> 00:04:02,270 And if you can really get at what's driving someone, 85 00:04:02,270 --> 00:04:04,280 you can change their outlook, and you can 86 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:05,650 change their decision making. 87 00:04:05,650 --> 00:04:08,720 You have to understand what their rules are. 88 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,430 I have to understand what your rules are, 89 00:04:11,430 --> 00:04:12,920 and I have to respect those. 90 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,770 I don't necessarily have to adopt those rules, 91 00:04:15,770 --> 00:04:18,140 but I've got to understand and respect what they are. 92 00:04:18,140 --> 00:04:21,050 The clock is ticking in Iraq for kidnapped American 93 00:04:21,050 --> 00:04:22,970 journalist Jill Carroll. 94 00:04:22,970 --> 00:04:24,650 This morning, new video of Carroll 95 00:04:24,650 --> 00:04:27,020 was aired on Al Jazeera television. 96 00:04:27,020 --> 00:04:30,440 It showed Carroll surrounded by armed men. 97 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,630 Her captors threatened to kill her tomorrow 98 00:04:32,630 --> 00:04:34,010 if their demands are not met. 99 00:04:34,013 --> 00:04:35,933 CHRISTOPHER VOSS: The Jill Carroll case really 100 00:04:35,930 --> 00:04:40,000 helped me understand the psychology of what's 101 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,610 at stake in a negotiation. 102 00:04:42,610 --> 00:04:45,220 What are they really bargaining for? 103 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:47,170 What are they really after? 104 00:04:47,170 --> 00:04:49,420 Who are they really trying to talk to? 105 00:04:49,420 --> 00:04:54,430 Jill Carroll is a journalist working in Iraq shortly 106 00:04:54,430 --> 00:04:58,930 after the end of, quote, the end of the Second Iraq War. 107 00:04:58,930 --> 00:05:01,240 So she's on her way to interview an official, 108 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:03,460 and she's kidnapped. 109 00:05:03,460 --> 00:05:07,270 And she was taken by what appeared to be Al-Qaeda. 110 00:05:07,270 --> 00:05:09,400 And Al-Qaeda, at the time, was in the business 111 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,500 of kidnapping people, putting videotapes of them 112 00:05:11,500 --> 00:05:14,110 on the internet, threatening their lives, 113 00:05:14,110 --> 00:05:16,880 and then shortly thereafter cutting off their heads. 114 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,870 So this happens. 115 00:05:19,870 --> 00:05:20,710 She disappears. 116 00:05:20,710 --> 00:05:23,500 And shortly thereafter, they put a video of her. 117 00:05:23,500 --> 00:05:27,290 They have three people standing around her, three men. 118 00:05:27,290 --> 00:05:28,900 They're masked. 119 00:05:28,900 --> 00:05:31,600 Two of them are holding rifles. 120 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,360 One of them is holding what appears to be a book. 121 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,210 She's seated on a floor in front of them, 122 00:05:37,210 --> 00:05:39,720 and her hair is uncovered. 123 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:41,610 So they had orchestrated a video of her 124 00:05:41,612 --> 00:05:43,322 that made her look like she'd been judged 125 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,660 by an appropriate authority and therefore 126 00:05:45,660 --> 00:05:48,360 was acceptable to execute her for her crimes 127 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:49,500 for her sentence. 128 00:05:49,500 --> 00:05:52,680 What is the commodity at stake? 129 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,580 What are they really negotiating for? 130 00:05:54,575 --> 00:05:55,955 They're trying to show themselves 131 00:05:55,950 --> 00:05:59,970 as a legitimate authority that can pass sentence on people 132 00:05:59,970 --> 00:06:03,120 and execute them like any other legitimate authority. 133 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,260 That's what that video was about. 134 00:06:05,260 --> 00:06:07,410 So we needed to approach it from that level. 135 00:06:07,410 --> 00:06:10,530 And what were their rules that they violated? 136 00:06:10,530 --> 00:06:12,660 You know, I can live by your rules. 137 00:06:12,660 --> 00:06:14,130 Can you? 138 00:06:14,130 --> 00:06:17,620 Well, let's see if we can turn your rules against you. 139 00:06:17,620 --> 00:06:19,530 So what we noted in the video was 140 00:06:19,530 --> 00:06:22,890 that they had complete control of her, 141 00:06:22,890 --> 00:06:25,470 and they videotaped her with her hair uncovered, which 142 00:06:25,470 --> 00:06:27,810 was a violation of their rules. 143 00:06:27,810 --> 00:06:33,000 So we began to, through third parties, point out to them 144 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:37,320 to various media outlets that they were breaking their rules, 145 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:41,890 that they disrespected her, and then we did a videotape 146 00:06:41,890 --> 00:06:44,100 with her father. 147 00:06:44,100 --> 00:06:46,770 I want to speak directly to the man holding my daughter 148 00:06:46,770 --> 00:06:47,430 Jill. 149 00:06:47,430 --> 00:06:50,310 Her life as a reporter will better serve your purpose 150 00:06:50,310 --> 00:06:51,230 than her death. 151 00:06:51,230 --> 00:06:52,230 We coached her father. 152 00:06:52,230 --> 00:06:55,190 He had the option to take our coaching or not. 153 00:06:55,190 --> 00:06:56,940 And we said, what we need to do is we need 154 00:06:56,940 --> 00:06:59,430 to tell the indisputable truth. 155 00:06:59,430 --> 00:07:01,560 We need you to go on camera. 156 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,820 We need you to not engage in any predictable dialogue. 157 00:07:03,818 --> 00:07:05,608 They've already said in advance that you're 158 00:07:05,610 --> 00:07:07,110 going to go in the media, and you're 159 00:07:07,110 --> 00:07:08,520 going to say she's innocent. 160 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:09,850 Leave her alone. 161 00:07:09,850 --> 00:07:11,850 These are trigger words that they have predicted 162 00:07:11,850 --> 00:07:13,200 that you will say in advance. 163 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,780 And as soon as you say that your daughter was innocent, 164 00:07:15,780 --> 00:07:18,210 regardless of whether or not it's true, 165 00:07:18,210 --> 00:07:21,030 you feed into their justification for killing her. 166 00:07:21,030 --> 00:07:24,180 He went on the media and said, my daughter Jill 167 00:07:24,180 --> 00:07:26,440 is not your enemy. 168 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,740 She was reporting on what was happening in Iraq 169 00:07:29,740 --> 00:07:32,710 and, if released, would go back to reporting 170 00:07:32,710 --> 00:07:34,720 on what is happening in Iraq. 171 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,330 Things that are indisputably true. 172 00:07:38,330 --> 00:07:41,150 We know from their culture that they believe that honor 173 00:07:41,150 --> 00:07:43,070 flows from the father. 174 00:07:43,070 --> 00:07:45,590 We didn't know it at the time, but we found out 175 00:07:45,590 --> 00:07:48,860 after she was released that the terrorists saw 176 00:07:48,860 --> 00:07:51,560 her father in the media and said to her, 177 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,780 your father is an honorable man. 178 00:07:54,780 --> 00:07:57,630 Now, not knowing at the time, but at that point in time, 179 00:07:57,630 --> 00:07:58,870 we'd won the negotiation. 180 00:07:58,870 --> 00:07:59,370 It was over. 181 00:07:59,370 --> 00:08:00,770 She was safe. 182 00:08:00,770 --> 00:08:03,990 When they say to her, your father's an honorable man, 183 00:08:03,990 --> 00:08:08,350 they now can't hurt her because honor flows from the father. 184 00:08:08,350 --> 00:08:10,980 And their view of her has completely changed. 185 00:08:10,980 --> 00:08:13,540 And lo and behold, the very next video we saw of her, 186 00:08:13,540 --> 00:08:15,720 she was by herself on camera. 187 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,510 There were no executioners standing around her, 188 00:08:18,510 --> 00:08:21,370 and her hair was covered. 189 00:08:21,370 --> 00:08:25,450 And about 88 days I believe or so 190 00:08:25,450 --> 00:08:27,790 after the day that she was taken, 191 00:08:27,790 --> 00:08:30,490 she appeared on the streets of Baghdad 192 00:08:30,490 --> 00:08:32,530 very close to a location that she'd originally 193 00:08:32,530 --> 00:08:36,310 been grabbed because they didn't know what to do with her. 194 00:08:36,309 --> 00:08:38,349 They'd lost a negotiation. 195 00:08:38,350 --> 00:08:40,660 They sensed that they had. 196 00:08:40,659 --> 00:08:43,859 They didn't know who to blame. 197 00:08:43,860 --> 00:08:45,430 It had taken place in the media. 198 00:08:45,430 --> 00:08:49,760 It had taken place in the arena that they chose. 199 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:51,650 And we understood what was going on, 200 00:08:51,650 --> 00:08:54,160 and ultimately, they just let her go. 201 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:56,350 We didn't have the term emotional intelligence 202 00:08:56,350 --> 00:08:59,050 back then, but it was emotional intelligence. 203 00:08:59,050 --> 00:09:00,670 And it was the tactical application 204 00:09:00,670 --> 00:09:02,840 of emotional intelligence. 205 00:09:02,842 --> 00:09:04,302 And so I knew that that was the key 206 00:09:04,300 --> 00:09:07,980 to unraveling these situations. 207 00:09:07,980 --> 00:09:11,370 Emotional intelligence, what I call tactical empathy, 208 00:09:11,370 --> 00:09:13,620 is the bedrock of my negotiation approach 209 00:09:13,620 --> 00:09:17,310 and comes from years of dealing with hostage crises. 210 00:09:17,310 --> 00:09:19,350 Most of the tools you're about to learn 211 00:09:19,350 --> 00:09:22,440 are rooted in the idea of demonstrating understanding 212 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:26,250 of the other side's position and in so doing building rapport 213 00:09:26,250 --> 00:09:29,150 and ultimately gaining trust.