Negotiating Under Pressure: What Business Leaders Can Learn from Hostage Negotiations

What can boardroom leaders learn from hostage negotiators? In this episode of Coach Talks, Madalena Sutcliffe sits down with Scott Walker — one of the world’s most experienced kidnap and crisis negotiators, and the author of Order Out of Chaos and Eye of the Storm. With over 300 high-stakes cases behind him, Scott shares powerful lessons on how to communicate under pressure, avoid the biggest mistakes leaders make in negotiations, and why empathy can be the most effective tool — even in life-or-death situations. A conversation about influence, resilience, and how to make good decisions when the stakes couldn’t be higher.