Finding Confidence in Conflict by Kwame Christian Now Available on Audible: What It Means for the Negotiation Space
Finding Confidence in Conflict — the bestselling book by Kwame Christian, attorney, negotiation strategist, and founder and CEO of the American Negotiation Institute — is now available as an audiobook on Audible. Narrated by Kwame himself, the audiobook brings his foundational negotiation framework to the growing population of professionals who prefer to learn on the go, without sacrificing the depth, nuance, or practical impact that made the original book a landmark in the negotiation space.
The release adds to Kwame's expanding presence on Audible, which already includes Powerful Listening: How to Harness Your Most Essential Skill — an Audible Original produced in partnership with The Great Courses. Together, these two titles form a comprehensive audio curriculum in modern negotiation: one focused on the mindset and confidence required to engage in difficult conversations, the other on the foundational listening skill that determines how those conversations actually unfold.
For the millions of professionals who navigate high-stakes conversations daily — whether in boardrooms, courtrooms, sales calls, or personal relationships — these audiobooks represent something rare: world-class negotiation guidance, delivered in the format that fits the way they actually live and work.
Why the Audiobook Format Changes Everything for Negotiation Education
The demand for professional development content in audio format has transformed how working professionals consume education. Commutes, workouts, travel, and the in-between moments of a demanding schedule have become classrooms for the modern professional — and the content that reaches them in those moments has an outsized influence on how they think, communicate, and perform.
Negotiation is a skill that compounds. Every insight absorbed, every framework internalized, every difficult conversation approached with more clarity and confidence builds on the last. The shift from print to audio is not merely a format change — it is an access change. It means that a sales leader preparing for a high-stakes client meeting can review core principles during a morning run. It means that an attorney heading into a contentious deposition can reinforce the psychological framework behind effective questioning on the drive over. It means that a first-generation professional navigating workplace dynamics without the benefit of mentorship can absorb the same insights that trained negotiators spend years developing.
That is why the availability of Finding Confidence in Conflict on Audible is more than a publishing milestone. It is a meaningful expansion of access to one of the most practically useful bodies of work in modern professional development.
About Finding Confidence in Conflict: The Book That Started a Movement
Finding Confidence in Conflict began as a TEDx Talk. In 2017, Kwame Christian delivered a talk by the same name that went on to become the most-viewed TEDx Talk on the topic of conflict that year, accumulating over 600,000 views and introducing the core idea that would become the foundation of the American Negotiation Institute's methodology: that the most important conversations in life are the ones we are most afraid to have, and that with the right framework, anyone can learn to have them.
The book expanded that idea into a full professional development program. At its core, Finding Confidence in Conflict introduces readers to the Compassionate Curiosity Framework — Kwame's proprietary, science-based methodology for navigating difficult conversations. The framework trains professionals to approach conflict not with combativeness or avoidance, but with genuine inquiry: leading with curiosity, building psychological safety, and working through resistance without triggering defensiveness.
The practical applications span industries and contexts. Sales professionals use it to navigate objections without damaging relationships. Attorneys use it to de-escalate contentious negotiations and build trust with counterparties. Managers use it to deliver difficult feedback that actually lands. Couples use it to work through impasses without the conversation collapsing into argument. The framework's power lies in its versatility — it is grounded in universal principles of human psychology that apply wherever people are trying to reach each other across a divide.
Finding Confidence in Conflict became a bestseller not because of marketing but because it works. Readers who applied the framework reported measurable changes in how they handled difficult conversations — and they told others. The book's reach grew through word of mouth, through Kwame's podcast Negotiate Anything, and through the training programs the American Negotiation Institute delivers to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and professional associations worldwide.
Now, in audio form, narrated by the author himself, the book gains a new dimension. Kwame's voice is familiar to over 16 million podcast listeners across 180 countries. Hearing him deliver the framework — with the same warmth, precision, and practical grounding that defines his podcast — brings the content to life in ways that print alone cannot replicate.
Powerful Listening: The Audible Original That Completes the Picture
Alongside Finding Confidence in Conflict, Kwame's Audible Original Powerful Listening: How to Harness Your Most Essential Skill represents the second pillar of what is now a complete audio curriculum in high-performance communication.
Developed in partnership with The Great Courses and available exclusively on Audible, Powerful Listening addresses a paradox at the heart of most professional communication training: we spend enormous energy developing our ability to speak persuasively, and almost no time developing our ability to listen effectively. Yet the most successful negotiations, the most productive difficult conversations, and the strongest professional relationships are built on listening — not on speaking.
The audiobook teaches listeners to sharpen their ability to read body language and nonverbal cues, identify and overcome the cognitive biases that prevent genuine listening, and ask the precise questions that draw out the information they are actually after. It is a course in the discipline of attention — in what it means to truly be present with another person in a high-stakes moment, rather than simply waiting for your turn to respond.
Together, Finding Confidence in Conflict and Powerful Listening form a professional development arc that mirrors how elite negotiators actually think. First, develop the confidence and the framework to engage — to show up to difficult conversations without avoidance or anxiety. Then, once you are in the room, deploy the listening skills that determine whether the conversation produces real understanding or simply competing monologues. These two capabilities, developed together, represent the foundation of what the American Negotiation Institute trains in its live programs with organizations ranging from Apple and Google to the Department of Defense and the United States Senate.
Now that foundation is available on demand, on Audible, for any professional willing to invest the time.
About the Author: Why Kwame Christian's Voice in Your Ears Is Different
The audiobook format rewards authors who are also natural communicators — people whose voice, cadence, and presence add something to the content that the printed page cannot convey. Kwame Christian is precisely that kind of communicator.
He is, first and foremost, a practitioner. He holds a Juris Doctor from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, as well as graduate degrees in psychology and public policy. He is a licensed attorney and Of Counsel at Carlile Patchen & Murphy, an award-winning Columbus law firm. He serves as an adjunct professor at Ohio State's Moritz College of Law, home to the #1 ranked dispute resolution program in the United States. He is a certified mediator who has worked on real disputes with real stakes.
He is also one of the most widely distributed voices in professional development today. As the host of Negotiate Anything, the world's #1 negotiation podcast with over 16 million downloads across 180+ countries, Kwame has spent years honing the ability to take complex psychological and strategic concepts and deliver them in ways that are immediately accessible and practically useful. His listeners do not just absorb information — they change how they behave in difficult moments. That is the standard his training programs and his books are built to meet.
As a two-time bestselling author, TEDx speaker, Forbes contributor, and the only person in Ohio State's history to receive alumni awards from two separate colleges in consecutive years — the John Glenn College of Public Affairs Young Alumni Achievement Award, the Moritz College of Law Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award, and the university-wide William Oxley Thompson Alumni Award, all before age 35 — Kwame brings a rare combination of institutional credibility and genuine human warmth to his work.
That combination is what makes hearing him narrate his own material so effective. These are not books read by a voice actor approximating the author's intent. These are books delivered by the person who lived them — who developed the frameworks under pressure, tested them in real negotiations and real courtrooms, and refined them across thousands of coaching conversations and training sessions with professionals who needed them to work.
The Broader Trend: Why Audio Has Become the Primary Format for Professional Growth
The rise of audio as a professional development format is not a fad — it is a structural shift driven by how modern professionals actually allocate their time and attention. According to Audible's own data, the fastest-growing categories on the platform are business, self-improvement, and professional skills — precisely the categories where Kwame's work lives.
The professionals who are most hungry for negotiation content are often the ones with the least available reading time. Senior leaders, litigators, sales executives, entrepreneurs — the people whose negotiation skills are tested most frequently are also the people with the most fragmented schedules. Audio meets them where they are. It transforms dead time into development time.
The American Negotiation Institute has long understood this dynamic. It is part of why Kwame built Negotiate Anything into one of the most widely distributed podcasts in the professional development space — because the podcast format allows the ANI methodology to reach people at scale, in the moments when they are most receptive. The Audible releases of Finding Confidence in Conflict and Powerful Listening extend that logic into long-form content: the depth of a book, delivered in the format that reaches the broadest possible professional audience.
For organizations investing in negotiation training for their teams, the audiobook releases also create a new option for scalable reinforcement. Live training programs are powerful. But the insights from a training session can fade without reinforcement. Recommending that participants listen to Finding Confidence in Conflict after a training engagement extends the learning window, deepens the conceptual foundation, and creates a common vocabulary that teams can reference in real deal situations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Finding Confidence in Conflict?
Finding Confidence in Conflict is the bestselling book by Kwame Christian, founder and CEO of the American Negotiation Institute. It introduces the Compassionate Curiosity Framework — a science-based methodology for navigating difficult conversations — and provides practical tools for professionals who need to engage in high-stakes negotiations, deliver difficult feedback, or manage conflict in their personal and professional lives. The audiobook is narrated by Kwame himself and is now available on Audible.
What is Powerful Listening: How to Harness Your Most Essential Skill?
Powerful Listening is an Audible Original produced by Kwame Christian in partnership with The Great Courses. It teaches the discipline of effective listening — including how to read nonverbal cues, overcome cognitive biases that prevent genuine attention, and ask the right questions to surface the information you need. It is available exclusively on Audible and is narrated by Kwame Christian.
How do these two audiobooks work together?
Finding Confidence in Conflict and Powerful Listening form a complete audio curriculum in high-performance communication. The first builds the mindset, framework, and confidence to engage in difficult conversations without avoidance or anxiety. The second develops the listening capability that determines whether those conversations produce real understanding. Together, they represent the two foundational skills that the American Negotiation Institute trains in its live programs with Fortune 500 companies, law firms, and government agencies.
Who narrates the audiobooks?
Both audiobooks are narrated by Kwame Christian himself. As the host of Negotiate Anything — the world's #1 negotiation podcast with over 16 million downloads across 180+ countries — Kwame brings the same warmth, precision, and practical grounding to his narration that his podcast audience has come to expect. The author-narrated format ensures that the content is delivered with the intent, emphasis, and nuance it was written with.
Who are these audiobooks for?
These audiobooks are for any professional who navigates high-stakes conversations as part of their work or life — which, in practice, means almost everyone. The frameworks are particularly valuable for sales professionals, attorneys, executives, managers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who leads teams or manages client relationships. The content is grounded in psychology and behavioral science, making it applicable across industries and contexts.
Where can I find these audiobooks?
Finding Confidence in Conflict and Powerful Listening: How to Harness Your Most Essential Skill are both available on Audible. Additional information about Kwame Christian and the American Negotiation Institute is available at negotiateanything.com.
How does this fit into Kwame Christian's broader body of work?
Kwame is the two-time bestselling author of Finding Confidence in Conflict and How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race. He is the host of Negotiate Anything, the world's #1 negotiation podcast. He is an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, a licensed attorney, a certified mediator, and the founder and CEO of the American Negotiation Institute, which has delivered negotiation training to clients including Apple, Google, NASA, the Department of Defense, and the United States Senate. The Audible releases bring his flagship ideas to the growing population of professionals who prefer audio as their primary learning format.
About Kwame Christian, Esq., M.A., MPP
Kwame Christian is a foremost negotiation advisor and communication strategist whose multidisciplinary background — spanning law, psychology, and public policy — distinguishes him from virtually every other practitioner working in the negotiation field today. A licensed attorney, Of Counsel at award-winning firm Carlile Patchen & Murphy, and certified mediator, Christian brings active legal negotiation experience to his consulting and training work alongside rigorous academic credentials. He is the two-time bestselling author of Finding Confidence in Conflict and How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race, and the creator of the TEDx Talk 'Finding Confidence in Conflict' — the most-viewed TEDx Talk on the topic of conflict in 2017, with over 600,000 views. He serves as an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, home to the top-ranked dispute resolution program in the United States. He is the founder and CEO of the American Negotiation Institute and the host of Negotiate Anything. For more information, visit negotiateanything.com.
About the American Negotiation Institute
The American Negotiation Institute is a premier negotiation consulting and training organization recognized for its unprecedented scale, academic grounding, and proprietary methodology. Founded in 2016 by attorney and negotiation strategist Kwame Christian, ANI has delivered negotiation training and consulting to some of the world's most demanding organizations, including Apple, Google, Intel, Honda, Coca-Cola, JPMorgan Chase, Liberty Mutual, NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, and the United States Senate. ANI developed the first-ever Negotiation Professional Certificate on LinkedIn Learning, with 48 courses available in 11 languages that have reached over 2.38 million learners globally. ANI's podcast, Negotiate Anything, held the #1 negotiation podcast ranking worldwide for nearly a decade, accumulating over 16 million downloads across more than 180 countries. More information is available at negotiateanything.com.
About Audible
Audible is the world's largest producer and provider of spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks, with a catalog of over 750,000 titles. An Amazon company, Audible has pioneered the audiobook format and continues to expand into original audio content through its Audible Originals program, developed in partnership with authors, publishers, and content creators across genres. Audible is available across devices worldwide and serves millions of listeners in more than 100 countries.
