Richard Mullender

After a 25-year career working in the London Metropolitan Police as a detective investigating serious crimes, Richard Mullender moved into hostage negotiation. He quickly worked his way up to become Lead Trainer at Scotland Yard’s world-renowned National Crisis and Negotiation Unit. As a hostage negotiator, Mullender built his career on elite listening techniques. Since retiring, he has adapted these techniques from the field and applied them to the corporate world, teaching invaluable communication skills to governmental organizations and leading multinationals alike.

Mullender brings a unique breadth and depth of experience, having designed and run courses all over the world, developing the negotiation skills of officers for organizations that include the Metropolitan Police, the United Nations, the FBI. In addition to extensive crisis negotiation field experience in the UK, Mullender was also deployed to Afghanistan and has been active across a wide range of international negotiation assignments. Mullender was part of the negotiation team that helped secure the successful release of three UN workers in Afghanistan in 2004.

Outside the world of policing, Mullender has delivered programs all over the world on elite listening techniques designed to help organizations understand their employees and clients alike on a deeper level. Mullender teaches people to listen as though their lives depended on it. His techniques, gleaned from a career in the field, help his clients understand how to access someone else’s mindset – an invaluable tool at any negotiating table. He has worked across a wide range of organizations including leading multinationals, investment banks, energy companies and universities.

Mullender is author of Communication Secrets of a Hostage Negotiator (2012) and been covered widely in the media including by the Financial Times and BBC Radio 4.