Implementing Voice Strategies in Extreme Negotiations: A Conversation With Christophe Caupenne, Successful Former Commando of the French RAID Unit

Abstract

This article explores the role voice plays in extreme negotiation through the point of view of a practitioner. In this study, we invite Christophe Caupenne, a former Research, Assistance, Intervention, and Deterrence (RAID) chief—now a private consultant to top managers and professional negotiators—to write in detail about his expertise. It was the first time he had fully reflected upon how his voice and vocal strategies psychologically impacted critical negotiations. Our goal was to determine whether business negotiators could learn from their well-trained police counterparts, many of whom engaged in high-stakes negotiations. We augmented our expert’s essay with a 2-hour interview, and also conducted tests on the tone, timbre, and frequency of his voice.

Keywords:

• voice
• extreme negotiation
• emotion
• police

Notes

1. We use an international technique called “electrolaryngography” (ELG) to analyze Caupenne’s voice characteristics (Fourcin, 2000). ELG is a noninvasive method that measures variations of the neck tissues’ electrical impedance (translated into the movements of the vocal folds during the phonation). Specifically, our procedure comprised the following steps: (a) We asked Caupenne to sit down. (b) We placed two electrodes on his neck, one on each side of his thyroid cartilage. (c) We asked him to produce a sustained sound, such as a “hum,” to calibrate the instrument. (d) We asked him to read (as spontaneously as possible) a 1½-minute long calibrated text—a brief excerpt from The North Wind and the Sun (in French, La Chèvre de monsieur Seguin; a fable by Alphonse Daudet). During Caupenne’s phonation, the electrodes around his neck measured the opening and closing movements of his vocal folds, while software programs measured and analyzed his voice’s frequency, intonation, regularity, timbre, and much more. During the reading, we also observed Caupenne’s breathing, his posture (position of his shoulders, head, and neck), and the tensions of his neck. (e) After the reading, we asked Caupenne how he felt (in terms of vocal fatigue), and whether he felt that he had forced his voice. (f) Finally, we combined the ELG results with our qualitative observations to evaluate his voice parameters.

2. Refer to the glossary of terms (see the Appendix).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christophe Haag

Christophe Haag is an associate professor of organizational behavior at EMLYON Business School. His research focuses on how emotions and intuitions improve the performance of individuals and groups. He has published in leading journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Organization Management, European Management Journal, M@n@gement. He has also published several books that got a lot of media attention in France. He may be reached at [email protected].

Elizabeth Fresnel

Elizabeth Fresnel is a French laryngologist. She is at the head of “the voice lab” (exploration and care of voice, hearing, singing, and recording) that she created 28 years ago in Paris, France. The voice lab is a unique multiple-service voice clinic composed of speech therapists, psychologists, physical therapists, and vocal technique instructors. She may be reached at [email protected].