Product Description

The New York Times Bestseller!

Learn how to keep your cool and get the results you want when emotions flare.

When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation badly and suffer the consequences; or read Crucial Conversations and discover how to communicate best when it matters most. Crucial Conversations gives you the tools you need to step up to life's most difficult and important conversations, say what's on your mind, and achieve the positive resolutions you want. You'll learn how to:

• Prepare for high-impact situations with a six-minute mastery technique
• Make it safe to talk about almost anything
• Be persuasive, not abrasive
• Keep listening when others blow up or clam up
• Turn crucial conversations into the action and results you want

Whether they take place at work or at home, with your neighbors or your spouse, crucial conversations can have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you'll never have to worry about the outcome of a crucial conversation again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #259 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From AudioFile
Mainly about resolving conflicts and influencing people, this useful guide covers every conceivable aspect of talking with others. People hear facts and stories and turn them into shared knowledge when they're not attacked or overpowered--in other words, when they feel safe. No mushy mental health lesson, the program does a stellar job of explaining many types of communication errors and describing the best ways to achieve mutual purpose. The authors have exceptional ideas about moving toward healthy solutions in a variety of business and personal realms. Anna Fields gives a perfect reading--emotionally bright but still allowing the lesson to retain its practical, straight-talking nature. T.W. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From the Back Cover

"Most books make promises. This one delivers. These skills have . . . generated new techniques for working together in ways that enabled us to win the largest contract in our industry's history."
--Dain M. Hancock, President, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

Learn how to keep your cool and get what you want when emotions flare.

When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation badly and suffer the consequences; or read Crucial Conversations and discover how to communicate best when it matters most. This wise and witty guide gives you the tools you need to step up to life's most difficult and important conversations, say what's on your mind, and achieve positive outcomes that will amaze you. You'll learn how to:

• Prepare for high-impact situations with a six-minute mastery technique
• Make it safe to talk about almost anything
• Be persuasive, not abrasive
• Keep listening when others blow up or clam up
• Turn crucial conversations into the action and results you want

Whether they take place at work or at home, with your neighbors or your spouse, crucial conversations can have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you'll never have to worry about the outcome of a crucial conversation again.

About the Author

Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler are top international corporate consultants and cofounders of Vitality Alliance, Inc., and VitalSmarts. Together they have developed dozens of corporate training programs for dozens of Fortune 500 companies.

Customer Reviews

Crucial Conversations
As an Executive Coach, I highly recommend Crucial Conversations. Many of my clients face the challenge of talking with their peers and/or direct reports on a daily basis. Most people don't handle those difficult conversations very well. This book gives great steps and info on how to go about treading through the difficult waters. I have purchased several copies of this book as gifts for clients. I am currently re-reading it in order to grasp and absorb the rich content.

Common sense isn't really all that common
I like this book a lot. Developed for business communication it has applications for many areas of life. I found it clear, instructive, insightful and relatively free of new-age doublespeak. I work in an ER and I communicate with angry people (sometimes including myself) in emotionally-charged situations on a daily basis. I find the techniques presented in this book quite practical.

For comparison I read a few of the negative reviews. Several of them dismiss this book as "common sense." I think they miss the point that common sense is not really all that common.

Best book ever
I have given this book to a number of people. It truly is a good read. Very helpful. For those of us that can be a bit timid....buy this book.