Hostage negotiation is all about psychology. These skills are critical for any -negotiator- faced with high-tension conflicts that occur during shared medical decision making. It entails influencing a behavioral change in someone in order to gain voluntary compliance. The unifying factor in crisis situations is that the person-s actions are being dictated by their emotions to the detriment of rational thinking. Using the Behavioral Change Stairway Model developed by the FBI-s international hostage negotiation unit, 5 steps-including active-listening techniques, maintaining an open-minded approach, and building rapport-can be utilized to influence one-s counterpart.