Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most

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