Are your employees struggling to stay motivated? If so, it might be them. But there’s a good chance that it’s actually you. In today’s business world, it’s impossible to achieve your goals and grow your company without effective and inspiring leadership.
To this end, we’re thrilled to announce that the second book from the Black Swan Group, Ego, Authority, Failure: Using Emotional Intelligence Like a Hostage Negotiator to Succeed as a Leader, is now available for download and purchase.
Written by Derek Gaunt—an expert trainer with 29 years of experience on hostage negotiation teams—this book reveals his insights from working alongside companies such as JetBlue, Google, and Facebook. These valuable lessons will teach you not only what effective leadership looks like in the 21st century but also how leaders can use hostage negotiation tactics to create the outcomes they desire.
Ego, Authority, Failure is filled with actionable tips that can help front-line managers, middle managers, and C-suite executives grow as leaders to inspire their teams and achieve their business goals.
Just like hostage negotiators use techniques that are truly universal, the skills taught in this book can apply to nearly every business situation. Here are three high-level takeaways from the book to get you thinking in the right direction.
In the United States, hostage negotiators enjoy a 90 percent success rate. These skilled communicators are almost always able to get people to do what they want—even in incredibly intense situations—because they are masters of emotional intelligence, or EQ.
What’s your success rate in comparable scenarios at the office? When the going gets tough, does your team rally behind you? Or is getting everyone on the same page more akin to herding cats?
Ego, Authority, Failure explores how you can use negotiation-based communication skills at your organization to increase productivity and employee engagement. When you cultivate a positive and supportive work environment, your employees will be internally motivated to produce results.
How many times have you avoided difficult conversations at work because you’re not up for the challenge? These conversations can actually be quite easy to navigate—if you know how to employ the negotiation technique of tactical empathy.
Derek’s book introduces readers to the fundamentals of Hostage Negotiator-Leadership (HNL), which has the principles of tactical empathy at its foundation. Inside, you'll learn 12 simple-to-execute skills that will immediately have you operating at a level higher than most.
As an added bonus, this approach taps into the rule of reciprocity, which should encourage your team to return the favor by seeing things from your perspective the next time an issue comes up.
Being a great leader isn’t about simply communicating effectively. The best leaders are also the best listeners—just like hostage negotiators, who are always making an effort to gather more information from their counterpart.
Learning how to become a great listener can help you improve emotional intelligence. When you have strong listening skills, you’re not only able to understand what someone is saying, but you can also interpret precisely what they mean because you understand the emotional cues their intonation, cadence, and nonverbal behaviors suggest.
Ego, Authority, Failure will teach you how to sharpen your listening skills to impress your employees and develop stronger relationships with each of them.
What’s stopping you from reaching your full potential as a leader? Buy Ego, Authority, Failure in paperback or Kindle format on Amazon today to learn more about how hostage negotiation tactics and emotional intelligence can help you inspire your team and get the results you’re after.
While you’re at it, check out our first book from CEO Chris Voss—Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It—to learn how to sharpen your negotiation skills with emotional intelligence and enjoy better outcomes in your personal and professional lives.