Alcohol tourism, hurray! (A visit to Traverse City Whiskey Co.)

Northern Michigan has a thriving wine tourism scene: the Traverse City area alone has more than 40 wineries. 

So as part of our visit to the Michigan motherland, we plotted an alcohol touring day (because alcohol tourism is the best tourism) which included a couple of wineries and a tour of local whiskey maker Traverse City Whiskey Co.

First, the wineries.

Our initial stop was at Bonobo, located on a finger-like strip of land called the Old Mission Peninsula that juts up into Grand Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan.

(SIDE NOTE: My discernment in wine-related matters is limited. If it’s red and not too sweet, I’m probably good. I mostly drink the (four-star rated!) red blend from Sam’s Club. So you won’t be getting deep wine reviews here.)

The views at Bonobo are insane:

Eat your heart out, Napa.

It was a little hazy and smoky on this day. Apparently Canada was on fire, and lacked the international decorum to keep its maple leaf incineration to itself. 

Anyway, the wine and the food were excellent, and my Cabernet/merlot house blend went great with crab cakes and pulled pork tacos:

Bonobo is owned by Todd and Carter Oosterhouse, the latter of which was a carpenter/personality on the show Trading Spaces, way back before we knew a reality TV host could become president.

The second stop was just down the road at Peninsula Cellars Winery, which is located inside a schoolhouse built in 1890—because there’s no better place to drink than at school.

(This photo is from the company website, and I’m wondering why the schoolhouse is obscured by a large black vehicle. Just to let us know the company van is a Benz?)

Peninsula Cellars had a super-friendly staff and offered a five-flight wine tasting for $5, or 1/3 the price of your grande triple-whipped cinnamon pineapple soy latte espresso at Starbucks. Quite a deal. I hit the first five reds on the list:

They were all “very good” (remember my super-elite wine palate) but the Pinot Noir, which was extremely dry, surprised me by being my favorite.

Peninsula Cellars also offers fresh root beer, which was incredible.

From there, we slogged through tourist traffic and endless construction to reach the Traverse City Whiskey CompanyProduction Facility Tour, which I dare you to say five times fast after sampling their products.

Our friendly and knowledgeable guide was named Tim.

(At least I think his name was Tim. Things got a bit hazy, and it wasn’t because of the Canadian smoke.)

As Maybe-Tim introduced us to the company and its products, he allowed us to simply point at a bottle and he would pour us some to taste, which was a glorious and rewarding power trip.

We learned many things during this portion of the tour, and I astutely took no notes because I was too busy pointing at whiskey.

I do remember this, though: whiskey comes in different types, like Rye and Bourbon. And in order to be called bourbon, a whiskey must follow the ABCs:

• American made

• Aged in oak Barrels

• Made with at least 51% Corn

The oak barrels used to store whiskey are charred inside and look like this:

Charring deepens the color of the whiskey, and burning the wood adds sweet or honey flavors to the whiskey by releasing sugars held in the oak. The ash also helps clear out some of the harsher elements in the whiskey, smoothing out the flavor.

(Of course, all the ash itself is filtered out later on.)

After our intro and sampling, we gripped the handrails and slowly made our way downstairs to see how the magic was made.

Here Guide-Who-I-Think-Was-Tim shows us the room where the whiskey ages:

This room smells amazing.

Oak barrels can only be used once, after which they are sent to Scotland and used to house scotch as it ages. This turns whiskey makers into stand-up comedians as they make jokes about how Scotch is just leftover whiskey byproduct, or how Scotch makers use whiskey makers’ garbage to create its flavor, etc.

(Whiskey humor doesn’t seem to age as well as the whiskey itself.)

These bottles show the color of whiskey as it ages at one, two, three, five, and thirteen years in the oak barrel, and may also represent the shade of your liver depending on your consumption habits:

The company itself is doing great, and preparing to move into a much larger facility next year. It’s product can now be found in 30 states, including the traditional whiskey bourbon homes of Tennessee and Kentucky, a northern invasion with the potential to spark a new civil war.

Importantly, Traverse City Whiskey Company was founded by three Michigan State Spartans back in 2011. So Go Green, Go White(skey), and now I’m ready to drink more of what they’re selling. 

A long, strange trip

Every year, our family makes a summer sojourn from Florida to the Michigan homeland. We venture north, celebrating family and America’s independence—even as we curse mosquitos and black flies the size of Pomeranians. 

Normally, Nikki captains this trip by herself. This year, with no employment to encumber my wandering, I drove up with Nikki, teen and tween Maddie and Avery, and two dogs, Lucy and Finn.

Six living beings and one vehicle. 19.5 hours and 1,098 miles of asphalt-enabled travel await us. Questions abound:

• Is the I-75 coffee supply chain ready for this?

• What are the outer human limits of single-day fast food consumption? 

• Will Maddie and Avery—with irrational expectations of comfort, ease, and expediency—complete the trip without open mutiny? 

Read on for the answers to these and other burning questions.

4:38 AM

Tension increases amongst the crew as departure draws near. Finn is a nervous wreck, as the hurried movement of crew and cargo heightens his anticipation for our impending launch.

4:47 AM

It is said the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, and the journey of 1,098 miles begins with 2,347 pounds of luggage:

Nikki is the Logistics Director, and bends a cargo hold to her will like no one else.

She artfully arranges bags and boxes, creating an impenetrable fortress of clothing, shoes, and sundries in an act of supernatural packing prowess.

Transporting this amount of luggage via domestic airline would require the deed to our home as payment. But for this trip, the price is paid in sweat of the brow as we load, and I wonder: which price really is greater?

4:52 AM

Lucy defiles the carpet in Avery’s bedroom. Is this an act of open protest in defiance of our departure at this ungodly hour?

Or, is this a distress flare, launched to ensure her visibility so she isn’t left behind? We will never know for sure.

5:03 AM

The trip itinerary indicated a 4:30 AM departure, but given the unplanned carpet cleanup and the lengthy extraction of two daughters from their beds, the actual departure time is satisfactory.

7:10 AM

Maddie and Avery volley their first protests, claiming starvation.

But my hand is steady on the wheel and my belief is resolute that we will breach the Florida-Georgia line before considering any ports o’ call.

8:04 AM

With great diligence, Lucy performs iceberg watch duty.

Her effort seems unnecessary given our tropical traveling conditions. Maybe she is using hard work to make amends for her earlier indiscretion, and I accept her earnest attempt as an apology.

8:09 AM

While on iceberg watch, Lucy steps on the button which lowers the backseat window nearest to Finn, inviting him to jump overboard as we travel at 78 miles per hour.

Fortunately, Finn declines the implied offer, probably the first wise decision he has ever made. He’s nearly three and growing up. This is a proud moment.

Lucy is the veteran leader of our canine contingent, but is advancing age eroding her focus?

Or, given her seniority, does she feel entitled to family leadership and is thus trying to sabotage the voyage and my position?

I will keep a wary eye on her for the rest of the trip.

8:28 AM

We have reached Georgia, with seas calm, skies fair, and no stops.

8:35 AM

Our first port o’ call is Lake Fair, Georgia, for fuel and McProvisions.

My provision strategy centers on protein. On a journey this challenging, one cannot descend into a carbohydrate-fueled mailiase. (NOTE: This carb-light, protein-heavy plan collapsed as I consumed at least 30 Hot Tamale candies. Also a lot of chocolate raisins.)

Today, liquid serves one sacred purpose: redline levels of caffeine-induced awareness. All other liquid intake is detrimental to trip efficiency and there will be no extra vehicle stoppages on my account. Should I suffer dehydration, my in-laws live near a hospital and I can secure a saline drip tomorrow.

9:47 AM

Finn, nerves frazzled, shakes like a leaf. This requires administration of a treat containing CBD oil. Slowly, his eyes glaze over. For the rest of the day he just lays around, pondering the beauty of it all and daydreaming about milk bone treats.

1:07 PM

I have traversed Atlanta in the day, at night, and both on weekdays and weekends. Not once has she ever failed to place obstacle and delay in my path.

Just one time Atlanta: Will you allow us to pass through with speed and grace?

Her reply: “Nay. Not today.”

Not ever, I assume. Traffic is a mess.

1:31 PM

Acworth, Georgia is our second port o’ call. Arby graciously shares his roast beast with two of us while the fair maiden Wendy serves the other human passengers.

1:47 PM

Weary, I turn the wheel over to Nikki and retire to the co-pilot’s seat. There’s nary a drop of whiskey or red wine in sight and still so many miles to go before we sleep.

3:19 PM

Greetings to Tennessee.

In 1980, country crossover star Ronnie Milsap paid homage to Volunteer State precipitation with his smash hit “Smoky Mountain Rain:”

While Ronnie’s hair is magnificent, his forecast was not:

We sail on with clear skies and full hearts.

5:33 PM

Kentucky.

Elvis himself also once sang of rain, in his 1970 hit “Kentucky Rain” (which included a young studio musician named—wait for it—Ronnie Milsap). But again a melodic forecast proves false, with blue skies above us and Kentucky bluegrass below.

9:26 PM

In Dayton, Ohio, we stop for one last round of fast food, our arteries straining under the intake.

On the Sirius/XM Classic Rewind channel, Chrissy Hynde of The Pretenders laments the paving over of the state she grew up in:

I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside 
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride

Evidently, Ms. Hynde did not visit the same McDonald’s we did, which, during renovations, traded in its paved parking lot for an experience best fit for a Monster truck rally.

The dinner bill was about $20, which will pale in comparison to our upcoming wheel realignment expense. But our SUV holds together and onward we go.

10:14 PM

Our fortunes shift: the heavens open with fury.

I don’t know what Ohio did to anger the Lord. But now He tries his level best to wash the entire state out to sea in one mighty storm.

I assess the situation. We have no lifeboats, and the Coast Guard isn’t coming. Seeing no other choice, I take a deep draw from the lukewarm remnants of my McDonald’s coffee, set my jaw, and press on.

We splash through harrowing construction zones, fishtail around semi trucks and careen on into the endless darkness. The night’s depth obscures my vision and darkens my soul.

Will we live to see the fresh light of a new day? Will I ever again drink coffee warmer than 47 degrees? And who decided orange was the correct color for construction barrels, anyway?

The mind races.

12:12 AM

Pure Michigan! We reach the last state line of the trip. The heavens have ceased their relentless pummeling. Whatever Ohio did to incur the Lord’s wrath, it evidently wasn’t Michigan’s fault.

12:12 AM and three seconds

We hit our first pothole. Also Pure Michigan.

2:33 AM

Victory!

We pull into the driveway. Van Halen cheers us on through the stereo as David Lee Roth screeches:

Hot shoe, burnin' down the avenue
Model citizen, zero discipline

And we did indeed burn down the avenue:

• 1,098 miles

• 52 ounces of coffee

• 24 ounces of Diet Mountain Dew

• 19.5 hours of travel time 

• 6 states

• 5 stops

• 2 heart arteries likely blocked

• 1 biblical flood

It’s been an arduous journey, full of narrow escapes, unholy Ohio weather, and enough fast-food saturated fat to last us the rest of the millennium. But we made it, however worse for wear we may be.

Now hand me one of those CBD oil treats. 

Summary and review: Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss

“... I negotiate million dollar deals for breakfast.”

—Harry Ellis

In the Christmas classic* Die Hard, Harry Ellis hatches a scheme to negotiate with Hans Gruber, who has taken the Nakatomi Plaza office tower by force, holding Ellis and his co-workers hostage.

Ellis portrays all the stereotypes we think of in a business negotiation. He’s slick-talking, self-interested, intellectually arrogant, aloof, and insincere—and those are his better qualities.

Ellis fast-talks his way into being murdered by Gruber’s henchmen.

In most business negotiations, we are afraid the other side will behave like Ellis—being brash, evasive, and trying to get one over on us. So we raise our defenses. We focus primarily on our wants—and what we want to say next—so we don’t listen and don’t learn. Usually, end up with a worse outcome than we could have had.

Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator, has another way.

The title of his book “Never Split the Difference,” focuses on mindset—yours and that of your counterpart—and then offers many actionable insights to help you create the collaborative environment you need to for a successful negotiation.

Your counterpart’s mindset

Voss believes humans are of two minds: emotional and rational. The emotional mind is command, and above all seeks safety, security, and control. The rational mind is used to justify emotion: logic is the supporting framework for feelings.

The goal, then, is to create an environment of comfort and safety that allows the other party to feel a sense of control and autonomy. At that point, you set the stage for collaboration and real discussion.

Your mindset

“It all starts with the universally applicable premise that people want to be understood and accepted. Listening is the cheapest, yet most effective concession we can make to get there.”

Voss argues we must embrace conflict (calmly and with empathy) and view negotiation as a fact-finding mission. Negotiation is a continuous act of discovery, not an attempt to dominate.

A friend and former boss used to tell me: “Be the dancing bear—draw their fire,” meaning there is tremendous value in eliciting and understanding objections and concerns.

Using this framework requires a mindset shift. You aren’t in a quid-pro-quo contest to gain the most from your “opponent.” Instead, you’re an explorer, acting like Indiana Jones to uncover the clues that will lead you to the prize you seek.

By the way: this is hard.

It takes tremendous emotional control and ego suppression to fight your need to immediately be heard, to be “right,” and to feel in control. Ironically, you gain control and end up being “right”—achieving your objective—by putting the other party’s communication and emotional needs first.

Key strategies and tactics

With the environment set, you can move on to more tactical steps to move your negotiation forward. What follows are just a few of the more interesting and useful concepts Voss shares from his time with the FBI.

Asking questions

Voss argues most people behave schizophrenically in a negotiation, either speaking or thinking about what they will say next—and rarely listening. The voice in our head is constantly yelling at us, writing dialogue scripts on the fly and doing a poor job of anticipating our counterpart’s next actions.

Quiet the voice in your head focusing completely on what the other person has to say. Ask calibrated and open-ended questions that start with the journalistic classics who, what, when, where, why, and how. Get the other party to open up and talk about their objectives. But be careful with “why,” as why-questions usually come off as aggressive or accusatory. What and how usually work best.

Great negotiators uncover the “black swans,” or hidden surprises, held by the other side that greatly affect a deal. Voss thinks each side usually has three surprises, or pieces of information, that if discovered will change the balance and trajectory of a negotiation.

Question yourself as well—especially your own assumptions. This helps you stay emotionally open to other possibilities and agile in a fluid negotiating situation.

Mirroring, or isopraxism, is a way to creating bonding, comfort, and to keep the other party talking. At the FBI, mirroring is simply about repeating the last (or most important) three words back to the speaker to convey a sense of empathy and collaboration:

”By repeating back what people say, you trigger this mirroring instinct and your counterpart will inevitably elaborate on what was just just said and sustain the process of connecting. Psychologist Richard Wiseman created a study using waiters to identify what was the more effective method of creating a connection with strangers: mirroring or positive reinforcement.

One group of waiters, using positive reinforcement, lavished pride and encouragement on patrons using words such as “great,” “no problem,” and “sure” in response to each order. The other group of waiters mirrored their customers simply by repeating their orders back to them. The results were stunning: the average tip of the waiters who mirrored was 70 percent more than of those those who used positive reinforcement.”

Labeling is the close cousin of mirroring, in which you acknowledge and label the emotions and intentions of the other party. But avoid using “I” in your observations. Instead, lead with “It seems like,” or, “It feels like.” For example: “It seems like you want to complete this this week,” instead of “I feel like you want to complete this this week.” Using “I” creates separation and defensiveness.

Finally, don’t get wrapped up what the other person is asking for, but rather focus on their interests—why they are asking for it. Calibrated questions and mirroring will reveal the answers.

Voice as a tone-setter

Voss says there are three tones of voice available to us during negotiation. Most of the time, you should use the first option: the positive/playful voice, as that builds comfort, repore, and collaboration.

The “late-night FM radio DJ voice” connotes authority, but calmly. When an item is non-negotiable for you, you can serenely state your position, without inducing anxiety, and also without leaving the door open to a challenge against your position.

Picture yourself working as a DJ in 1970s, on the 3AM shift, at a jazz station. You might be saying, “We cannot accept a non-disclosure clause,” but your tone is that of the DJ introducing a Miles Davis song, with a whiskey in one hand and some awful unfiltered cigarette in the other. Calm, smooth, welcoming, and confident.

The third voice is the direct/assertive voice, which is mostly to be avoided. The assertive voice creates tension and pushback, and is used far too often in business discussions, usually when the speaker is feeling fear and lack of control.

“Irrational behavior”

When people appear to behave irrationally or make “crazy” decisions, it often indicates your failure as negotiator. People rarely act crazy—that’s just your perception. In reality, the person is operating from a perspective, rules, or pressure that you failed to discover.

For example:

• They may be operating with incomplete information. Discover what they don’t know and supply the information.

• They may have a constraint they don’t want to share, usually because they will appear powerless.

• They may have other interests, such as changing goals or other outside objectives competing for their time and resources.

Leverage

Leverage is fluid, emotion-based, and tips the balance of power. Voss states leverage comes in three flavors:

• Positive - the ability to give or withhold something your counterpart wants.

• Negative - the ability to make a counterpart suffer, often by invoking loss aversion.

• Normative - using the other party’s norms and standards—their worldview—to advance your position. When someone takes a position that conflicts with their stated philosophy or practices, you can use that as leverage to gently steer them back on course.

Voss believes leverage can always be created, because leverage grows out of emotion. Negotiators must be aware of who holds leverage at any given time in a negotiation and act accordingly.

Additional quick tips

• In a typical meeting, you can learn the most just before the meeting, or during the “wrap up” period.

• Loss Aversion shows people are statistically more likely to act to avert a loss than to achieve an equal gain. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is often the most powerful motivator.

• The perceived loss of autonomy is very powerful. Let the other side preserve the right to say “no.” In fact, push for a “no”—it is far more effective than pushing for a “yes,” which makes people feel like they are being forced into compliance. No feels like self-protection, and helps people relax.

• Use a team to listen in a negotiation. We all have selective listening, filtered by our cognitive biases which are built around our goals and assumptions.

• The barriers to reaching an agreement are often more powerful than the reasons to make a deal.

It’s impossible to sum up all the helpful details in this book. But if you question your own assumptions, listen far more than you speak, build comfort and a sense of control, affirm and echo the other side’s positions and feelings, you’ll be in a far better position to achieve a positive outcome.

In other words, you won’t be Harry Ellis.

*Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas classic. That’s non-negotiable. (Said in a late-night FM-DJ voice, of course.)

Note: If you want to see more direct quotes, check out my notes page on Never Split the Difference.

The “Shift List”: Books That Altered My Course

A good book creates a shift.

The shift can be as small—just your mood—or much bigger, changing your perspective forever. This is a list of books that created a shift in me. Call it a “Shift List,” and pronounce it carefully in polite company.

FITNESS

Can’t Hurt Me, David Goggins

The next time you don’t feel like working out, flip this book open to pretty much any page. You’ll learn your excuses are invalid.

Goggins is a Navy Seal Veteran and super-endurance athlete. His upbringing was full of abuse, violence, and tragedy, and he uses that dark energy to push through physical and mental boundaries most of us would never even consider crossing.

Although the book is quite dark at times (and full of colorful language!), the overall message is that we are capable of far more than we think, and the greatest opponent we will ever face in life is our own minds.

(You can read my book notes for Can’t Hurt Me here.)

The New High Intensity Training, Ellington Darden

Many of us, when we think about fitness, imagine long workouts before the sun comes up, or after it goes down. We’ve been taught—by marketers—that we have to grind and grind to get ourselves lean and strong.

But maybe that’s not true. What if an hour or two a week were enough?

In this book, Ellington Darden details a workout system he helped create in the 1970s called High-Intensity Training (HIT). With HIT, you work out hard, but briefly. Each resistance exercise is limited to one set, taken to muscle failure, and the main goal is to move the weight slowly and with perfect form.

HIT aims to maximize your muscles’ time-under-load in order to trigger hypertrophy, the process under which muscle grows in response to physical challenge.

HIT workouts generally last 30 minutes or less, and are performed one to three times per week only.

The book lays out the principles and process of HIT, and includes the colorful history of the program’s development and deployment in the 1970s.

You’ll even learn why HIT was too much for the mighty Arnold Schwarzenegger.

FOOD

Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen Confidential is Bourdain’s wildly entertaining autobiography and treatise on food and the restaurant industry. This is the book that kicked off his persona and led to the TV empire he created before his death in 2018.

Bourdain was a fantastic writer and storyteller. Underneath the stories of drug-fueled nights on the job and flaming-hot takes on food industry and those in it, Bourdain tells a messy, beautiful story about a man who followed his passion and battled his demons all along the way.

FICTION

City On Fire, Garth Risk Hallberg

1970s New York City. A fascinating time in the city’s history, full of pessimism, theft, vandalism, bombings, and arson. The city was decaying into to a-past-its-peak dystopia (check out this photo collage), culminating with the blackout riots of 1977.

Hallberg’s thousand-page novel converges the storylines of a diverse set of characters, culminating with the blackout riots which occurred on July 13, 1977.

Some criticized the book for being too long and indulgent. But I love Hallberg’s writing style and the setting for the story. New York really was a dirty and sometimes dangerous place in the 1970s, and reading about just a few of the people making their way though that time, in various stages of their lives, terrific.

A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles

The story starts with a simple premise: a man in the Soviet era displeases his party, and finds himself prisoner in a Moscow hotel, where he spends the majority of his life. But far from being confined by his circumstances, Alexander Rostov live a rich, full life, with love, tragedy, loss, and redemption.

The writing itself is terrific, but the real takeaway for me is that even life lived on a small scale—a confined, seemingly punitive existence—can still be a big.

HISTORY

A Higher Call, Adam Makos

A Higher Call tells the story of two men on the opposite sides of World War II—Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler.

Much of the story is told from Stigler’s point of view, detailing what happens when normal people find themselves involuntarily serving the side of unbelievable evil.

The two mens’ lives intersect in the air, on the battlefield, and many, many years later as part of an extraordinary reunion.

HUMOR

Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits, Dave Barry

Sure, a lot of these stories are dated now. But the rhythm, exaggeration and surprises that define Barry’s writing taught me to appreciate humor and reading while I was growing up. Few newspaper columnists were better at pointing out life’s absurdities without trying to dunk on an opponent. Instead, Barry laughed with people, often placing himself in situations which allowed him to serve as court jester and the target of his own greatest mockery.

As a bonus, here are two of my favorite Barry columns of all time:

Dave Barry’s Hurricane Preparedness Guide
Post-9-11 column: “Just For Being Americans”

PSYCHOLOGY

Quiet, Susan Cain

Open floor plans! After-hours “voluntary” social events! Endless brainstorming sessions! Corporate America is built to develop, deploy, and reward extroverts and extroverted behavior.

But half of us are introverts, to varying degrees. That means we build our energy in private, and expend it in group settings. Introverts can and do successfully navigate social situations—often we even enjoy them. But social situations have to be balanced with “Quiet” time to properly think and recharge.

Susan Cain looks at extroversion culture and lays out a path to allow introverts to protect their energy and thrive in a culture that expects us to be socially “on” all the time.

(You can read my notes on this book here.)

Win Bigly, Scott Adams

You will now be asked the impossible: take a deep breath, and for just a moment, set aside whatever feelings you have about Donald Trump.

Win Bigly is a very informative book about persuasion, told through the lens of 2016 Trump campaign. Dilbert creator Scott Adams wastes no time supporting or opposing Trump’s political positions (Adams claims to be far-left) but instead details how persuasion works and how Trump used it to create one of the more stunning political upsets in American history.

If you sell, if you’re a marketer, if you need to persuade anyone of anything, this book is incredibly useful.

Bonus: here’s a synopsis of the persuasion techniques discussed in the book.

FINANCE

Money: Master the Game, Tony Robbins

Most of us will never walk on hot coals with Tony, and I have no interest in jumping up and down at one of his many seminars. His other books failed to grab me and take me to new heights.

But this book is different. He interviews wealthy investors who really open up about their money strategies, and in the end Robbins distilled all that information into a straightforward plan to protect and grow your nest egg.

FAITH

Have a Little Faith: A True Story, Mitch Albom

Tuesdays with Morrie rocketed Albom beyond the Detroit Free Press sports pages of my youth and into another stratosphere as a writer. But I prefer Have a Little Faith.

The book juxtaposes two experiences: that of an older Rabbi and young, African-American pastor in Detroit. Through the contrast Albom weaves together larger truths about faith and life for a cynical culture that definitely use more faith.

NEGOTIATION

Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss

Chris Voss has seen your Harvard-fueled negotiating tactics and is having none of it. A veteran hostage negotiator for the FBI, Voss lays out negotiating strategies based on a belief that man has two systems of thinking: our animal mind, which is fast, instinctive, and emotional, and our rational, logical one.

Voss believes the animal mind drives the bus and leads our logical thinking, rather than the other way around. As a marketer, I agree with him.

What follows in his book are strategies for winning the emotional side of negotiating, which he frames not as a battle, but a process of discovery.

(You can view my book notes here.)

WRITING

Joe Sugarman double-header: The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook, and Triggers

Sugarman’s AdWeek handbook is an adaptation of his part biographical/part analytical “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word.” The book details discusses ad writing from A to A to Z, including how to be a good writer in general, to the process of strategizing, developing, writing, and editing successful ads. Along the way, Sugarman weaves in stories about his businesses, which grew first in mail order on the strength of his long-form copywriting and storytelling skills. Sugarman often sold items others couldn’t by telling colorful stories about products and the inherent flaws. (His “ugly thermostat” ad is a personal favorite).

Later, Sugarman made another fortune in infomercials, selling Blu-Blocker sunglasses (20 million pairs of them, to be exact).

Another Sugarman book, Triggers, is more clinical, laying out 30 sales tools to persuade, influence, and persuade prospects, whether selling in person or in developing advertising copy. I’ve completed a cheat sheet to Sugarman’s triggers, and you can read them here.

Here’s a link to a rundown of Sugarman’s psychological triggers, and here are my book notes for The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook.

If none of these books catch your interest, here’s a more complete list of everything I’ve read.