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Lewis Howes5 Psychological Tricks To READ ANYONE! | Evy Poumpouras & Chris Voss
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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Reading People, Persuading Them, and Negotiating Using Psychology and Empathy
- Evy Poumpouras explains that people lie most often by omission, that there is no easy formula for spotting lies, and that reading someone means studying their baseline behavior and letting them tell stories.
- Poumpouras recommends open prompts (Tell me, Explain, Describe), patience and adaptability, and softer ways of saying no or confronting someone, in order to keep conversations productive and preserve relationships.
- Chris Voss describes tactical tools such as smiling, labeling emotions with phrases like 'It sounds like...', and summarizing someone's view until they say 'That's right', and says repetition builds these skills.
- Voss teaches negotiating by letting the other side go first, triggering information with statements that invite correction, asking calibrated 'how' and 'what' questions, and naming negatives up front.
- A mentalist in the transcript demonstrates mind-reading routines and discusses showmanship, storytelling, reciprocity, and negotiation habits such as pausing after stating a price and offering package options.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasThere is no easy trick to reading people.
Poumpouras says popular culture oversells universal tells, and that reading someone takes studying their individual mannerisms and noticing changes from their baseline, such as less movement in a normally animated person.
Get people talking in stories rather than asking direct questions.
Poumpouras's TED approach (tell me, explain, describe) starts broad and narrows gradually, which reveals what someone values and avoids shutting them down.
Let conversations wander and match the other person's style.
Poumpouras says adaptability and patience preserve rapport, and that some people are identity-based and want to be heard rather than handed a solution.
Labeling emotions makes people feel seen and opens them up.
Voss says starting with 'It sounds like,' 'It seems like,' or 'It looks like' fires the brain and draws out information, and he claims the skill improves with repetition.
Summarize their view before making your point.
Voss says you should get the other person to say 'That's right' by summarizing their perspective, including the negative thoughts they likely have about you, before you make your ask.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesThere's no easy way to read people. It's work. It's studying the person, understanding human behavior, knowing that person.
— Evy Poumpouras
Never underestimate the other side's desire to correct you.
— Chris Voss
I just don't wanna try to solve any deal with money when I could've solved it with emotional currency.
— Chris Voss
What someone has failed to say is often a lot more important than what they have said.
— Chris Voss
Find alternative ways to let people down.
— Evy Poumpouras
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SPEAKERS
Evy Poumpouras
guestFormer U.S. Secret Service agent and author who teaches human behavior, communication, and protective intelligence.
Chris Voss
guestFormer FBI hostage negotiator and negotiation instructor, founder of The Black Swan Group.
Lewis Howes
hostPodcast host and entrepreneur, creator/host on the Lewis Howes channel.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
