Decoding Hostile Negotiations: Insights from Melissa Fortunato

Episode Description

Who is Melissa ? Melissa Fortunato is a seasoned negotiator with extensive international relations experience. Her career spans diplomacy and security, and she has collaborated with organizations such as the FBI to resolve complex issues in high-pressure environments. Melissa's expertise brings a real-world perspective to our podcast, enriching discussions on negotiation, diplomacy, and active listening What are we going to discuss? During this episode we covered this three main topics : - Hostile Negotiation - The role of active listening in negotiations - FBI Based Case in Afghanistan

Why Am I Melissa Fortunato

Hey everybody, I’m Greg Sowell and this is Why Am I, a podcast where I talk to interesting people and try to trace a path to where they find themselves today. My guest this go around is Melissa Fortunato(for to naught o). How did this shy anxious kid grow up to be an FBI hostage negotiator…by saying yes. She has had a quite interesting journey from working in a crisis center, to FBI undercover work, then hostage negotiator, and now she uses those honed skills to help folks from all walks of life to communicate and negotiate more empathetically. She’s a pretty awesome human, and one you should definitely meet if you get the chance. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Melissa.

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FBI UNDERCOVER & NEGOTIATING CAREER FT. MELISSA FORTUNATO

Melissa Fortunato, Founder and Chief Negotiation Officer (CNO) of Alchemy-Team, tells us about her 23-year FBI career as a Crisis Negotiator and Undercover Agent. Melissa is a graduate of Quantico’s famed negotiation training program and tells us how active listening and well-designed questions brought her remarkable success in resolving hostage for ransom, political kidnappings, and off-kilter abductions.

On the show this week, she tells Paige and David how a “romantic” trip to Thailand led to a fake wedding and the chauffeur-driven apprehension of a large band of international arms dealers. Melissa also dives into some of the benefits of being a woman in crisis negotiation and how her background in psychology helps her de-escalate high-stakes risks. Melissa remains committed to empowering others through transformative negotiation training in her current role.

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