Gary Noesner looks back at a 30-year career in the FBI, serving as an investigator, instructor, and negotiator. His focus included investigating Middle East hijackings victimizing American citizens. Noesner spent 23 years as an FBI hostage negotiator, culminating in his role as the Chief of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit. Throughout his tenure, he handled diverse crises, ranging from prison riots and militia standoffs to religious zealot sieges, terrorist embassy takeovers, airplane hijackings, and over 120 overseas kidnapping cases involving Americans.

Gary continues to consult independently and speaks at global law enforcement conferences and corporate events. His expertise has been featured in numerous television documentaries and major publications, and he authored the book "Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator," published by Penguin Random House in 2010. The book served as the basis for a six-part mini-series on Waco, airing on the Paramount Network on January 24, 2018.

During this episode, we discuss how to effectively influence our negotiation partners and get what we want even in the most difficult negotiations. Gary recalls the main challenges he faced in his career, highlighting the importance of effective negotiation in crisis situations. He shares insights from impactful negotiations, emphasizing that crisis negotiation methods, like the Behavioral Change Stairway Model (BCSM), have proven efficacy and are applicable also in other situations. We discuss BCSM, a method Gary developed during his active service at the FBI. We explore the learnability of active listening and the challenge of developing empathy and building rapport. We talk about the prerequisites for BCSM's effectiveness and its applicability to different personality types. We stress the general assumption that influencing behavior is easier if the other party likes us. At the end, Gary shares his advice for aspiring negotiators, emphasizing key skills and qualities. The interview concludes with a question about individuals who exemplify greatness in negotiation.