The character arc of Chris Voss
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 28 November 1957 in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Between then and now sit a degree from Iowa State, a master's from the Harvard Kennedy School, the FBI's joint counter-terrorism operation in New York City from 1986, hostage negotiation training in 1992, four years as the FBI's chief international kidnapping negotiator from 2003, The Black Swan Group in 2007 and Never Split the Difference in 2016. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Chris Voss?
He learned to listen when it counted most.
He came out of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, took a degree at Iowa State and later a master's in public administration at the Harvard Kennedy School. From 1986 to 2000 he served in the FBI's joint counter-terrorism operation in New York City. In 1992 he trained in hostage negotiation at the FBI Academy, which is the point the line turns on.
He spent twenty four years in the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit and worked on more than one hundred and fifty international hostage cases. From 2003 to 2007 he was the Bureau's chief international hostage and kidnapping negotiator, the single person carrying that brief for the United States. In 2006 he was lead negotiator on the cases of the journalists Jill Carroll and Steve Centanni.
He retired in 2007 and founded The Black Swan Group, which teaches the method to companies rather than to agents. He has taught at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business and lectured at the USC Marshall School. Never Split the Difference, written with Tahl Raz and published in 2016, took a set of techniques built for the worst hour of somebody's life and showed how they work in an ordinary conversation. A MasterClass followed in 2019. The Full Fee Agent came in 2022.
The moments
Chris Voss's timeline.
The 1980s
The counter-terrorism years
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Fourteen years on that operation, before the work he became known for.
The 1990s
Trained as a negotiator
Milestone, and it changed everything. One training course, and the rest of the line follows from it.
The 2000s
Chief international negotiator
Milestone, and it changed everything. One person carries that brief for the United States, and for four years it was him.
Lead on two cases
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two names in the news that year, and one negotiator on both.
Stay in the Bureau, or teach it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: leave and teach it, taken, or stay with the unit. The book, the company and the teaching all sit on this side of the decision.
A hundred and fifty cases
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Twenty four years, and a count of cases most people would not believe.
The Black Swan Group
Milestone, and it changed everything. The same method, taught to companies instead of agents.
The 2010s
Georgetown and USC
Milestone. Two business schools, and a subject neither of them used to teach.
Never Split the Difference
Milestone, and it changed everything. Techniques built for the worst hour of somebody's life, shown working in an ordinary conversation.
The MasterClass
Milestone. The lesson, recorded once, for anybody who wants it.
The 2020s
The Full Fee Agent
Milestone. The method, narrowed down to the rooms where it is needed most often.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is a way of listening that was built for the highest stakes there are, handed over to anybody with a difficult conversation ahead of them.
What he wrote
Books by Chris Voss
- 2016
Never Split the Difference
Written with Tahl Raz. Negotiating as if your life depended on it, from a man whose job was exactly that.
- 2022
The Full Fee Agent
The method narrowed to one trade, for people who keep discounting themselves.
- 2024
Empathy and Understanding In Business
Tactical empathy applied to ordinary commercial rooms.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His turned one training course in 1992 into everything that followed. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Chris Voss: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Chris Voss's character arc?
Was Chris Voss really an FBI negotiator?
What is Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss?
What cases did Chris Voss negotiate?
What is Chris Voss's Black Swan Group?
Where did Chris Voss study?
Does Chris Voss teach negotiation?
Where does this timeline of Chris Voss's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Chris Voss, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crisis Negotiation Unit, chief international hostage and kidnapping negotiator 2003 to 2007.
- Publisher records for Never Split the Difference and The Full Fee Agent.