Members of the Harvard Negotiation Project--which brought you the mega-bestseller Getting to YES--show you how to handle your most difficult conversations with confidence and skill.
Whether you're dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with your spouse about money or child-rearing, negotiating with a difficult client, or simply saying "no," or "I'm sorry," or "I love you," we attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day. Based on fifteen years of research at the Harvard Negotiation Project, Difficult Conversations walks you through a step-by-step proven approach to having your toughest conversations with less stress and more success. You will learn: how to start the conversation without defensiveness why what is not said is as important as what is ways of keeping and regaining your balance in the face of attacks and accusations how to decipher the underlying structure of every difficult conversation
Filled with examples from everyday life, Difficult Conversations will help you on the job, at home, or out in the world. It is a book you will turn to again and again for advice, practical skills, and reassurance.
"Does this book deliver on [its] promise of an effective way through sticky situations, whether 'with your baby sitter or your biggest client'? It does."-- The New York Times
"These talented communicators blend a daunting array of disciplines into highly readable and practical advice."-- Booklist
"Brilliant. . . . I've already re-read most of it. I'm using it. What more could a reader ask?"-- Tom Peters
"Emotional Intelligence applied to life's tough moments."-- Daniel Goleman
There's nothing like the difficult conversation that has to be done. You may have to tell a friend something that you know will hurt them deeply, you may have to tell the boss that you are quitting after many years of a friendly working environment, you may have to break off a relationship or who knows what else. Difficult conversations are a part of life and often a staple part of life with a teenager. That is where this book comes in. The authors discuss the structure of these conversations and how you can get to the heart of the matter with compassion and clarity so that each party gets through it as a team or with a minimum of emotional pain. It also examines why they are difficult conversations. In short it teaches how to examine situations in terms of how each person perceived what happened, how each person feels about the situation or is likely to feel when they are confronted, and the identity issues that are involved when discussing the subject. A fine book that will help many people learn how to deal with a difficult conversation...