Never Split the Difference

by Chris Voss

negotiationcommunicationpsychologybusiness5 skills

Former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss reveals field-tested techniques for high-stakes negotiations. These 5 skills distill the core methods — tactical empathy to understand counterparts, mirroring to build rapport, labeling to defuse emotions, calibrated questions to guide outcomes, and the Ackerman model to close deals — into actionable frameworks you can apply to any conversation where the outcome matters.

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Skills (5)

/tactical-empathyChapter 1: Empathy

Use tactical empathy to understand and influence your counterpart's perspective in any negotiation.

/mirroringChapter 2: Mirroring

Apply Voss's mirroring technique to build rapport and extract information by repeating key words.

/labelingChapter 3: Labeling

Defuse negative emotions and reinforce positive ones by labeling what your counterpart is feeling.

/calibrated-questionsChapter 7: Questions

Ask calibrated 'how' and 'what' questions that guide your counterpart to solve your problem for you.

/ackerman-bargainingChapter 9: Bargaining

Close deals using the Ackerman bargaining model with precise offer increments and strategic concessions.

Installation

01Clone the repository

bash

git clone https://github.com/concaption/spellpages.git ~/.claude/spellpages

02Install the plugin

bash

claude plugin install ~/.claude/spellpages/content/books/never-split-the-difference

03Start using skills

Type a skill command (e.g. /tactical-empathy) in Claude Code.

one-liner

bash

git clone https://github.com/concaption/spellpages.git ~/.claude/spellpages && claude plugin install ~/.claude/spellpages/content/books/never-split-the-difference