Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Chris Voss and Jeffrey Sklar on why aggressive negotiators lose deals — and what to say instead of no. Sklar is a founding partner of Los Angeles law firm Sklar Kirsh and the first recipient of the 2026 Black Swan Global Negotiator Award, with 26 years as a corporate M&A lawyer handling transactions and partner disputes.
In this fireside, Sklar explains why threatening, repeating demands, and refusing outright usually end in litigation and a million dollars of legal fees, and how accusation audits, calibrated questions, and listening turn an impasse into a problem he can solve. He is, in his words, in the construction business, not the destruction business. Voss adds the long-term math on hardball: negotiators who blow up the other side lose credibility, get avoided, and never learn about the deals that quietly stopped coming to them.
Covered: what a negotiation framework actually is, how to handle a deal-breaker demand without saying no, using an accusation audit to reset a relationship where trust has collapsed, why "no deal is better than a bad deal," getting the other side to name a number, and how to charge what you're worth when you're a natural accommodator.
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Chris Voss is a former FBI lead international kidnapping negotiator, bestselling author of "Never Split the Difference", and founder and CEO of The Black Swan Group, a negotiation training, coaching, and consulting organization that teaches people how to achieve better outcomes in high-stakes conversations.
Recognized globally as a leading authority on negotiation, Chris developed his approach through decades of experience in crisis negotiation. Today, he and The Black Swan Group apply those principles to business, sales, leadership, difficult conversations, and high-stakes communication through The Black Swan Method® and Tactical Empathy®.
"Never Split the Difference" has introduced millions of readers around the world to Chris’s negotiation methodology. Through The Black Swan Group, Chris and his team help people go beyond understanding the concepts in the book and develop negotiation as a practical, repeatable performance skill through training, coaching, practice, and live experiences.
The Black Swan Group offers in-person negotiation training, live and self-paced online negotiation training, coaching, keynote speaking, and advanced negotiation experiences for business owners, leaders, sales professionals, and other professionals who want to become more effective dealmakers.
Learn from Chris Voss and The Black Swan Group:
Negotiation training and resources: blackswanltd.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=negotiationmastery
In-person and live training: blackswanltd.com/live-events?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=negotiationmastery
Online negotiation training: blackswanltd.com/online-negotiation-classes?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=negotiationmastery
Chris Voss and Jeffrey Sklar on why aggressive negotiators lose deals — and what to say instead of no. Sklar is a founding partner of Los Angeles law firm Sklar Kirsh and the first recipient of the 2026 Black Swan Global Negotiator Award, with 26 years as a corporate M&A lawyer handling transactions and partner disputes.
In this fireside, Sklar explains why threatening, repeating demands, and refusing outright usually end in litigation and a million dollars of legal fees, and how accusation audits, calibrated questions, and listening turn an impasse into a problem he can solve. He is, in his words, in the construction business, not the destruction business. Voss adds the long-term math on hardball: negotiators who blow up the other side lose credibility, get avoided, and never learn about the deals that quietly stopped coming to them.
Covered: what a negotiation framework actually is, how to handle a deal-breaker demand without saying no, using an accusation audit to reset a relationship where trust has collapsed, why "no deal is better than a bad deal," getting the other side to name a number, and how to charge what you're worth when you're a natural accommodator.
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Chris Voss is a former FBI lead international kidnapping negotiator, bestselling author of "Never Split the Difference", and founder and CEO of The Black Swan Group, a negotiation training, coaching, and consulting organization that teaches people how to achieve better outcomes in high-stakes conversations.
Recognized globally as a leading authority on negotiation, Chris developed his approach through decades of experience in crisis negotiation. Today, he and The Black Swan Group apply those principles to business, sales, leadership, difficult conversations, and high-stakes communication through The Black Swan Method® and Tactical Empathy®.
"Never Split the Difference" has introduced millions of readers around the world to Chris’s negotiation methodology. Through The Black Swan Group, Chris and his team help people go beyond understanding the concepts in the book and develop negotiation as a practical, repeatable performance skill through training, coaching, practice, and live experiences.
The Black Swan Group offers in-person negotiation training, live and self-paced online negotiation training, coaching, keynote speaking, and advanced negotiation experiences for business owners, leaders, sales professionals, and other professionals who want to become more effective dealmakers.
Learn from Chris Voss and The Black Swan Group:
Negotiation training and resources: blackswanltd.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=negotiationmastery
In-person and live training: blackswanltd.com/live-events?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=negotiationmastery
Online negotiation training: blackswanltd.com/online-negotiation-classes?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=negotiationmastery
