Christopher Voss Quotes

During a negotiation, it would be wise not to take anything personally. If you leave personalities out of it, you will be able to see opportunities more objectively.

The whole concept of negotiating is intimidating to many people.

You cannot just dictate at negotiations. You must also listen.

You have to negotiate with people who don’t trust you and vica versa. You have to be very careful but you can’t be paralyzed.

When I'm arguing, I'm competing. I'm trying to win a game. And if that's what's called for, it's just a reaction.

Yes, negotiating is about money and the bottom line, but a lot of times, it's much more emotional and complex than that. Realizing that the economic outcome may not be the other party's top priority gives you more chips to play with and will enable you to achieve better results than you may have anticipated.

I don't like going to decisions. I always try to finish people, knock them out, beat them up, and that's always the game plan.

Negotiation is empathy. It's almost trite to say that if you can't put yourself in the seat of the other person you're speaking with, you're not going to do well. It's not about being a bully, not about making offers people can't refuse.

If someone criticizes me, I strike back.

It's part of our nature. As much as I love (brother and guitarist Eddie), if you put us in a room with no one else for 15 minutes, we'd be at each other's throats.

Sometimes you need conflict in order to come up with a solution. Through weakness, oftentimes, you can't make the right sort of settlement, so I'm aggressive, but I also get things done, and in the end, everybody likes me.

Relationships are negotiated and if you deal with ultimatums and authority all the time, then you're not going to get anywhere.

We're all negotiators.

In any group there is more or less tension between people, and there are complicities and affinities.

You can be happy, or you can be right. If you want to be part of a couple and win every argument, you're in trouble.

You can't go to a negotiating table pointing a gun, but you've got to keep it over your shoulder.

It's learning how to negotiate to keep both sides happy - whether it's for a multi-million dollar contract or just which show to watch on TV, that determines the quality and enjoyment of our lives.

The capability of negotiating... is something that means you not only have to understand fully what you believe and what your national interests are but in order to be a really good negotiator, you have to try to figure out what the other person on the other side of the table has in mind.

Soft words and hard arguments.

Negotiators run the risk of achieving agreement and then having to take yes for an answer when they are emotionally accustomed to confrontation.

I have to fight as if there were no negotiations and negotiate as if there was no war.

In peace, as there is more time to spare, the leaders are expected to persuade the rank and file, instead of commanding them.

No matter what, everyone will go through a disagreement - that's what makes us all different.

I don't really like conflict at all, and I really find conflict pretty devastating. I try to avoid it at all costs.

Emotions aren't the obstacles to a successful negotiation; they are the means.