July 11, 2016

EP. 131 — The Hostage Negotiator’s Guide to Human Psychology

Watching movies like ‘Speed’ and ‘The Negotiator,’ you get the sense that talking a bad guy out of a hostage situation is a lot like being a Jedi. A little, “these aren’t the droids your looking for,” here, a little (insert witty line) there, and bam, you’re making out with the foxy bank teller back at HQ by happy hour.

Now if that were true, we’d all be hostage negotiators, right? But the job isn’t that simple. It’s much more passive than we think and involves a lot more teamwork than just one man walking into a building with only a bullhorn and his gut instinct.

To learn what we all get wrong about hostage negotiators, Jack jack is joined by Chris Voss; author, professor and former lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI. They discuss how teamwork and active listening are two of the most important parts of the job, and then Chris explains how hostage negotiation skills can be used in business and in real life.

Make sure to buy tickets to our next live podcast taping where we get heavy and talk about the afterlife, maaan! What if there’s no heaven and hell and we’re all just a hologram inside the mind of an ancient computer simulation? What if the Zoroastrians were right and it doesn’t matter how good you are in your life, you just have to cross a rickety bridge guarded by two four-eyed dogs to reach eternal salvation?

Join Jack, Dan, and Michael on Saturday, July 16th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles as they try to figure out what it all means. They’ll be joined by comedians Casey Jane Ellison and Ramin Nazer to discuss their favorite afterlife scenarios from movies, sci-fi and lesser-known religions.

This episode is sponsored by Harry’s, The Bouqs, and Spotify.

Tickets are only $5 and available here: https://goo.gl/yvf76j

Footnotes:

Chris Voss: Never Split the Difference: http://goo.gl/yCKrnz

Daniel Kahneman: Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow: https://goo.gl/GoGs3a

The Atlantic: The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence: http://goo.gl/MjOC5N

Cracked: 4 Aspects of Hostage Situations Movies Didn’t Prepare Me For: http://goo.gl/1wvR1h

David Foster Wallace: This is Water: http://goo.gl/XMEqj

New York Times: Quiet Fixer in Donald Trump’s Campaign: http://goo.gl/BcQQsH

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