Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

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Never Split the Difference by former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss offers a practical approach to negotiation drawn from high-stakes real-world experience. Voss introduces techniques such as tactical empathy, mirroring, labeling emotions, calibrated questions, and the Ackerman bargaining model. The book challenges conventional negotiation wisdom by arguing that emotional intelligence and psychological insight are more powerful than rational frameworks alone. For search fund entrepreneurs negotiating with business sellers, who often have deep emotional attachment to their companies, Voss's techniques for managing emotions, building rapport, and uncovering hidden information are directly applicable. The book has become a popular read in the ETA community.