Voss Quotes & Sayings

NO" STARTS THE NEGOTIATION My — Chris Voss

being right isn't the key to a successful negotiation - having the right mindset is. HOW — Chris Voss

And of course, the big question, the one that really keeps us coming back, is who will die next? Who will kill them? And who will win? — Voss Foster

I mean, have you ever tried to devise a mutually beneficial win-win solution with a guy who thinks he's the messiah? It — Chris Voss

I'm used to doing a lot of dolly tracks. — Kurt Voss

But re-reading Voss also demonstrates again that although White wasn't 'a nice man', and indeed was - perhaps rightly - scathingly dismissive of my and other Australian writers' work and origins unless they were his friends, he was a genius, and Voss one of the finest works of the modernist era and of the past century. — Thomas Keneally

The last use of the F-word is my favorite because it's positive and constructive. It sets the stage for honest and empathetic negotiation. Here's how I use it: Early on in a negotiation, I say, "I want you to feel like you are being treated fairly at all times. So please stop me at any time if you feel I'm being unfair, and we'll address it." It's simple and clear and sets me up as an honest dealer. With that statement, I let people know it is okay to use that word with me if they use it honestly. As a negotiator, you should strive for a reputation of being fair. Your reputation precedes you. Let it precede you in a way that paves success. — Chris Voss

Great negotiators are able to question the assumptions that the rest of the involved players accept on faith or in arrogance, and thus remain more emotionally open to all possibilities, and more intellectually agile to a fluid situation. Unfortunately, — Chris Voss

you get what you ask for; you just have to ask correctly. — Chris Voss

If you take a pit bull approach with another pit bull, you generally end up with a messy scene and lots of bruised feelings and resentment. Luckily, there's another way without all the mess. It's just four simple steps: 1. — Chris Voss

Going too fast is one of the mistakes all negotiators are prone to making. — Chris Voss

The vestibular and auditory systems have a very unique sensory connection. They share a cranial nerve that sends input to the brain. This is the vestibulocochlear nerve. When the brain is receiving auditory input, the vestibular system in being activated, and vice versa. So, incorporating the two into an activity is powerful because when you activate one, the other is ready to rumble! When — Angie Voss

The easiest way to stay super-focused is to be well rested and not do any multi-tasking unless you absolutely have to. — Lawrence Voss

To get real leverage, you have to persuade them that they have something concrete to lose if the deal falls through. — Chris Voss

A lot of people live with no apparent means of support. I kind of envy the musicians up there. You're down here, busting your ass in Hollywood, and it's like Lily Tomlin's joke about the rat race - all you prove in the end is that you're a rat. — Kurt Voss

sometimes people couldn't be saved, no matter how much you wanted it, no matter how hard you tried. — Ann Voss Peterson

In this world, you get what you ask for; you just have to ask correctly. So — Chris Voss

I really don't know where the independent fits in anymore when twenty-five million dollar movies are considered straight-to-video fare. We're like penny postage stamps. — Kurt Voss

A well-developed and versed character will write the story for you. — A.R. Voss

In fact, "No" often opens the discussion up. The sooner you say "No," the sooner you're willing to see options and opportunities that you were blind to previously. Saying "No" often spurs people to action because they feel they've protected themselves and now see an opportunity slipping away. Since — Chris Voss

To successfully gain a hostage's safe release, a negotiator had to penetrate the hostage-taker's motives, state of mind, intelligence, and emotional strengths and weaknesses. The negotiator played the role of bully, conciliator, enforcer, savior, confessor, instigator, and — Chris Voss

Life is negotiation. The — Chris Voss

Bailey Voss smiled at her daughter. Being — Susan Mallery

I am Reaylin de Voss," she said smugly, as if he should recognize her surname. He did not, which meant her family was not particularly wealthy, powerful or influential. "Well, — Kel Kade

There's something with actors in their 40s, I don't know - there's this tendency with these guys, either they're not where they wanted to be, or - I mean, this guy was making good money and working a lot. It's almost like they have a bad conscience about the job, like it's unmanly or something, so they try to compensate by busting the director's balls 24/7. — Kurt Voss

How about a little teaser from CROWN OF ICE?

Thyra Winther, the current Snow Queen speaks about her "home":

At night the palace's crystal halls are tinged sapphire. One of the first bits of magic that Voss taught me was to set the carved walls alight so that I'm not forced to walk the halls in darkness. I conjure a cold light that glows within the thick walls without melting the ice. I mastered this trick quickly once I knew what those shadows held. If I leave an area in darkness, they come - the girls who reigned as Snow Queen before me.
"I must find it." Their hollow words wind about me like a shroud. "The last piece. I must place it. Give it to me. — Vicki L. Weavil

Voss could always, if necessary, fail to understand. But wounds will wince, especially in the salt air. He was smiling and screwing up his eyes at the great theatre of light and water. Some pitied him. Some despised him for his funny appearance of a foreigner. None, he realized with a tremor of anger, was conscious of his strength. Mediocre, animal men never do guess at the power of rock or fire, until the last moment before those elements reduce them to - nothing. This, the palest, the most transparent of words, yet comes closest to being complete. — Patrick White

Some people are Accommodators; others - like me - are basically Assertive; and the rest are data-loving Analysts. — Chris Voss

I wouldn't want to put myself up for something that I didn't think I could do a good job on. I wouldn't to direct material I didn't feel I could serve, but I don't have anything against doing bigger pictures. — Kurt Voss

The goal is to identify what your counterparts actually need (monetarily, emotionally, or otherwise) and get them feeling safe enough to talk and talk and talk some more about what they want. The latter will help you discover the former. Wants are easy to talk about, representing the aspiration of getting our way, and sustaining any illusion of control we have as we begin to negotiate; needs imply survival, the very minimum required to make us act, and so make us vulnerable. But neither wants nor needs are where we start; it begins with listening, making it about the other people, validating their emotions, and creating enough trust and safety for a real conversation to begin. We — Chris Voss

And being "nice" in the form of feigned sympathy is often equally as unsuccessful. We live in an age that celebrates niceness under various names. We are exhorted to be nice and to respect people's feelings at all times and in every situation. But nice alone in the context of negotiation can backfire. Nice, employed as a ruse, is disingenuous and manipulative. — Chris Voss

Set your target price (your goal). 2. Set your first offer at 65 percent of your target price. 3. Calculate three raises of decreasing increments (to 85, 95, and 100 percent). 4. Use lots of empathy and different ways of saying "No" to get the other side to counter before you increase your offer. 5. When calculating the final amount, use precise, nonround numbers like, say, $37,893 rather than $38,000. It gives the number credibility and weight. 6. On your final number, throw in a nonmonetary item (that they probably don't want) to show you're at your limit. The — Chris Voss

In general,' Voss replied, 'it is necessary to communicate without knowledge of the language. — Patrick White

If you can get the other party to reveal their problems, pain, and unmet objectives - if you can get at what people are really buying - then you can sell them a vision of their problem that leaves your proposal as the perfect solution. Look at this from the most basic level. What does a good babysitter sell, really? It's not child care exactly, but a relaxed evening. A furnace salesperson? Cozy rooms for family time. A locksmith? A feeling of security. Know the emotional drivers and you can frame the benefits of any deal in language that will resonate. — Chris Voss

Having been in front of the camera just a couple of times, I'm empathetic, because it's very disconcerting. Someone shuffles you off to the trailer; you sit there for eleven hours wondering what the hell's going on. — Kurt Voss

Someone comes and drags you in front of the camera, and they're already saying, "Okay, we got it. Moving on." You get one or two takes. So it's a tough job. — Kurt Voss

There's more movies now than ever, and competition for the entertainment dollar. These movies aren't recouping the way they used to. These little producers used to make something for a million, and get on a roll. One would finance the next. They crap out eventually, but then they go start a new company. But these guys just aren't getting to first base. — Kurt Voss

He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of negotiation. — Chris Voss

When two people end a relationship after many years, they temporarily become the worst versions of themselves before they discover who they are outside the relationship. — Stacey Voss

A regime responsible for such a scheme of mass killings was corrupt to the core and did not deserve to survive. It's a disgrace that we didn't overthrow it, but left it to be eradicated by our enemies. — Johann Voss

No" is not failure. Used strategically it's an answer that opens the path forward. — Chris Voss

people who had damage in the part of the brain where emotions are generated, he found that they all had something peculiar in common: They couldn't make decisions. They could describe what they should do in logical terms, but they found it impossible to make even the simplest choice. In other words, while we may use logic to reason ourselves toward a decision, the actual decision making is governed by emotion. — Chris Voss

It's almost laughably simple: for the FBI, a "mirror" is when you repeat the last three words (or the critical one to three words) of what someone has just said. Of the entirety of the FBI's hostage negotiation skill set, mirroring is the closest one gets to a Jedi mind trick. Simple, and yet uncannily effective. By — Chris Voss

For anger to be effective, it has to be real, the key for it is to be under control because anger also reduces our cognitive ability. And — Chris Voss

The problem is that conventional questioning and research techniques are designed to confirm known knowns and reduce uncertainty. — Chris Voss

Life has been dealt to us flawed; doesn't mean we have to like it all the time, but live it and make the best of it to our greatest ability. — A.R. Voss

You know the story of the prodigal son?" Pastor Voss asked. "It's powerful, don't you think? The father running out to the wayward-turned-repentant son, giving him the best clothes, preparing a giant feast. All to celebrate his return. I always wonder, when I read that story, how different it would have been if, instead of accepting his father's gift, the son would have worn sackcloth and worked in his father's pigsty ... Loses some of its power that way, doesn't it?"
"You think that's what I'm doing?"
"God's calling you to be His son, not His slave. He doesn't want you to wear shackles, Davis. Not when He's already cut you free. — Katie Ganshert

As it is I'm a dated novelist, whom hardly anybody reads, or if they do, most of them don't understand what I am on about. Certainly I wish I had never written Voss, which is going to be everybody's albatross. — Patrick White

Don't blame others for your assumption of their actions; the best resolution is to simply ask. — A.R. Voss

A book is the gateway to the soul of its author. — A.R. Voss

We've instrumentalized niceness as a way of greasing the social wheels, yet it's often a ruse. We're polite and we don't disagree to get through daily existence with the least degree of friction. But by turning niceness into a lubricant, we've leeched it of meaning. A smile and a nod might signify "Get me out of here!" as much as it means "Nice to meet you." That's — Chris Voss