Suzanne Williams, a former British police hostage negotiator, scans a room of young professionals gathered for her evening masterclass on how to negotiate at work. “You seem like a lovely group of women but I would be far more in my comfort zone speaking to a load of evil kidnappers,” she says candidly.
After three decades as a police officer at Scotland Yard, latterly becoming the first ever female head of the force’s hostage crisis unit, Ms Williams is still adjusting to civilian life. In the police force she specialised in kidnappings, sieges, domestic barricades, suicide prevention and what she calls “crimes gone wrong”, such as bank robberies.
“You need to be well-prepared, whether you’re talking to some terrorists on Iraq or going into a big meeting.”Read more from FT.com [HERE].