Christopher Voss

Christopher Voss (born 28 November 1957) is an American businessman, author, and academic. Voss is a former FBI hostage negotiator, the CEO of The Black Swan Group Ltd, a company registered in Las Vegas, Nevada, and co-author of the book Never Split the Difference. He is an adjunct professor at Harvard Law School and Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, and a lecturer at the Marshall School of Business at University of Southern California.

Early life and education Voss was born in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. He earned a Bachelor of Science from Iowa State University and Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Career Voss was a member of the New York City Joint Terrorism Task Force from 1986 to 2000. He was involved in monitoring the New York City landmark bomb plot after spending three years investigating the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, one of 500 agents who were involved in the task. He was the "co-case agent" during the investigation of the 1996 TWA Flight 800 explosion.

After working on more than 150 international hostage cases, he retired from the FBI in 2007 and founded The Black Swan Group. The Black Swan Group serves as a consultancy and trainer for both businesses and individuals on negotiation skills. He became an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and a lecturer at the USC Marshall School of Business.

In 2016, Voss co-authored the book Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, with journalist Tahl Raz.

Voss was given the Attorney General's Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement as well as the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service. He has also been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, Inc., Variety, and Time.

In 2019, he created and narrated a MasterClass, The Art of Negotiation.

Books Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It (2016) The Full Fee Agent: How to Stack the Odds in Your Favor as a Real Estate Professional (2022) Empathy and Understanding In Business (2024)