Product Description

The Wall Street Journal bestseller, now with new material.

The master teacher of positive change through powerful communication, Susan Scott wants her readers to succeed. To do that, she explains, one must transform everyday conversations employing effective ways to get the message across. In this guide, which includes exercises and tools to take you step by step through the Seven Principles of Fierce Conversations, Scott teaches readers how to:

€ Overcome barriers to meaningful communication
€ Expand and enrich conversations with colleagues, friends, and family
€ Increase clarity and improve understanding
€ Handle strong emotions-on both sides of the table

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1863 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-06
• Released on: 2004-01-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.com
Susan Scott believes that interpersonal difficulties--at work and at home--are a direct result of our inability to communicate well. Fierce Conversations is based on principles from her international consulting practice, in which she teaches executives how to conduct such exchanges more dynamically and ultimately more effectively, thereby improving the relationships they enjoy with their various dialogue partners "one conversation at a time." Using identifiable anecdotes from her experience to inspire and inform, along with a series of practical exercises designed to impart the requisite skills, Scott walks readers through the individual steps she's developed to build better associations through more robust and honest discourses. Addressing all aspects of the process, from several methods for listening more attentively to specific ways she's fashioned to confront and resolve issues "that stand between you and success," Scott offers the type of concrete advice and confidence-building counsel that should help even the most reticent improve their communication skills dramatically. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly
An offshoot of Scott's international consulting firm, Fierce Conversations Inc., this book lasts as long as a Monday morning shuttle. Yet its thesis, that relationships both professional and personal hinge on how conversations go, and that the best conversations require determinedly gentle honesty and a willingness to listen, lingers long enough to make an impact. "It takes a certain fearlessness to make your private thoughts public. But if what you're thinking makes you squirm and wish to wriggle away, you are probably onto something," she says. On the book's Web site, a streaming-video talk feels fake and rehearsed. But Scott's written words contain substance and, as an author, she's levelheaded and funny. She quotes a wide variety of writers, from Ernest Hemingway to Maya Angelou to Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and clearly explains her key concepts, including "obey your instincts" and "let silence do the heavy lifting." Careerist marketing ploy it may be, but this cleanly written, if cliche-laden, book boasts enough psychological sensitivity to merit success. Those whose conversations with co-workers or family members aren't producing the results they want will find plenty of helpful tools and assignments in this succinct guide.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Scott maintains a consulting firm, Fierce Conversations, which provides leadership programs on creating positive change through powerful communication. The conversations she refers to may be the very ones that you have been avoiding in your relationships at work or at home. They involve bringing those brutally honest and sometimes painful subjects to the surface with your coworkers, your spouse, and especially yourself. The case studies from her consulting practice are very instructive. Typically, personal conflicts may be so destructive as to sabotage the day-to-day operations of a company and affect performance, morale, and income. In her meetings with coworkers, Scott attacks the issues head-on, getting everyone to speak up about the things that he or she has been thinking but dares not say. The result is a clearing of the air, a breaking of tension. Sometimes people are "made available to industry," her euphemism for being fired. The results are usually powerful, and Scott's workbook exercises will allow readers to have effective, life-changing fierce conversations of their own. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Tox
I have read many business books, and this one is in a class all itself. It's contents apply to personal and business relationships of all types. Real world experience that is well written, humorous, effective, and easy to implement. I highly recommend this book for anyone that maintains a relationship of any kind with any other person.

Fierce Conversations - leads to quality relationships
Fierce Conversations is a must read for anyone. Period!
Nothing else to say. It has fantastic information on communication and understanding. Two levels beyond talking ...and helps readers improve their level of interaction to reach win win results.

Change your conversations in a powerful way.
I had to read this book through work, and I have to say it made a powerful change in my company. If you are tired of having the same conversations over and over with employees or your spouse then this book will teach you that the conversation IS the realationship. Fierce conversations are REAL. They are not mean are rude, they are robust, intense, strong, powerful, passionate, eager, and unbridled. they are meant for confronting reality, understanding why a problem exists, and discovering the solution. The book guides you with 7 principles:

#1 You must interrogate reality. Discover the truth first.
#2 Make the conversation real. Take off your mask and speak the truth with tact.
#3 Be here. Focus on the conversation at hand, focus on it. No fading away!
#4 Tackle your toughest challenge today. Stop procrastinating. What can you solve that will bring you the most value, today?
#5 Obey your instincts. You know in your heart what is right.
#6 Take responsibility for your emotional wake. You must understand how you in your position emotionally effects people.
#7 Let silence do the heavy lifting. Slow down your speaking, take time for quiet gaps and to think about what to say next.

This is a powerful book that can change your life, your family, or your organization.