Chris Voss is the author of Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, CEO of Black Swan Group Ltd., and a former lead negotiator for the FBI.
Prior to 2008, Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group. During his government career, he also represented the U.S. Government at two (2) international conferences sponsored by the G-8 as an expert in kidnapping. Prior to becoming the FBI lead international kidnapping negotiator, Christopher served as the lead Crisis Negotiator for the New York City Division of the FBI. Christopher was a member of the New York City Joint Terrorist Task Force for 14 years. He was the case agent on such cases as TERRSTOP (the Blind Sheikh Case – Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman), the TWA Flight 800 catastrophe and negotiated the surrender of the first hostage taker to give up in the Chase Manhattan bank robbery hostage taking.
During Chris’s 24 year tenure in the Bureau, he was trained in the art of negotiation by not only the FBI but Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School. He is also a recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement and the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service.
Chris has taught business negotiation in the MBA program as an adjunct professor at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He has taught business negotiation at Harvard University, guest lectured at The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, The IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland and The Goethe School of Business in Frankfurt, Germany. Since 2009 Christopher has also worked with Insite Security as their Managing Director of the Kidnapping Resolution Practice.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
- Is real life FBI negotiating like what we see in the movies
- How we can use negotiating skills in our every day lives
- Strategies for dealing with customer service representatives
- How to be the smartest and most interesting person in the room
Paul Tesori is the caddie for professional golfer Webb Simpson. Paul was on the bag when Webb won the 2012 U.S. Open and 2018 THE PLAYERS Championship. In addition to Webb Simpson, Paul has caddied for some of the best golfers in the world including former #1 player Vijay Singh. In total, he has more than 20 wins as a PGA caddie. 
Best-selling author of Leadership Interrupted: daily inspiration to become the leader you were meant to be, and iAthlete: Impacting Student-Athletes of a Digital Generation, Kevin DeShazo is the founder of Fieldhouse Media. He is a sought after speaker, having presented on over 80 campuses as well is a regular presenter at conferences and conventions, including NACDA, CoSIDA, the NCAA Convention and the Collegiate Athletics Leadership Symposium. He has also been quoted on ESPN.com, The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Sports Business Journal and a variety of other national and local media outlets. Kevin is also the founder of Culture Wins Championships, helping leaders in the sports industry build a championship culture with their team. Kevin was also honored as an Innovator of the Year for FieldTrack, our web-based platform that monitors social media activity of student-athletes and coaches. Oklahoma City is home for Kevin along with his wife Megan and their three boys, Gabe, Noah and Asher.
Sue Enquist is UCLA Softball’s first All-American, National Champion, and Hall of Famer. In 2006, Enquist concluded her storied 27-year career as head coach of the UCLA Bruins with a 887-175-1 (.835) record, making her the winningest softball coach among all active coaches. She is the only person in NCAA Softball history to win a championship as a head coach and a player. During her career, Enquist produced 65 All-Americans and 15 Olympians. She has been inducted into six Hall of Fames including UCLA, Women’s Sport Foundation, USA Softball Hall of Fame, and National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Enquist is also the recipient of multiple National Coach of the Year and Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors. She grew up in San Clemente, California, and is a former professional surfer. Today she lives in San Clemente, California, where she surfs daily and enjoys spending time with her family.
JJ Birden played 9 years in the NFL as a Wide Receiver after a stand out career as a star track athlete at the University of Oregon, 
