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Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High | 
 enlarge | Authors: Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron Mcmillan, Al Switzler
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 18.95
Buy New: CDN$ 8.99
You Save: CDN$ 9.96 (53%)
New (14) Used (5) from CDN$ 6.93
Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 3365
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0071401946
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.6
UPC: 639785375159
EAN: 9780071401944
ASIN: 0071401946
Publication Date: June 18, 2002
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 46 more reviews...
 When the stakes are high January 1, 2008
Linda Bulger (Avon, Maine)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book was a most enjoyable read but left me with a touch of ambivalence. As a handbook for communicating more effectively, it's helpful but perhaps a bit simplistic.
"Crucial conversations" are defined as those in which opinions vary, the stakes are high, and emotions run strong. The book targets situations in business and personal life, and is extremely readable with its many illustrative dialogues from both sectors. An extensive vocabulary is introduced and I've had some of the terms floating like a ghostly subtext under my own conversations: Sucker's Choice; Safety; Salute and Stay Mute; Silence or Violence; Freeze Your Lover; Pool of Shared Meaning. It's all useful even if reductionist.
The techniques offered for effective negotiation are generally quite obvious, yet they bear repeating and codifying. They are, however, techniques, and as such they probably won't give earth-shaking results without an understanding of what's making people tick. Conversation and negotiation are so much more than technique.
CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS is an ideal offering for the best-seller market and would be a great springboard for leadership development workshops.
My two picks for the best advice in this book:
(1) Stay focused on what you really want.
(2) If you give this book to a partner or business associate, don't take a yellow highlighter to the parts you think they need before you give it; better to work on your own side of the crucial conversations.
Linda Bulger, 2008
Getting Past Withdrawal and Attacks to Achieve Dialogue July 16, 2006
Donald Mitchell (Boston)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
What is a crucial conversation?
According to the authors, opinions vary, the stakes are high, and emotions run strong. This can involve ending a relationship, asking a friend to repay a loan, giving the boss feedback about bad behavior, critiquing a colleague's work, or giving an unfavorable performance review.
You have three choices about such conversations. You can avoid the conversations, face them poorly, or face them well.
This book focuses on the last, providing practical advice about how to keep your own cool while encouraging everyone else to do she same. You can save a lot of time in reading and understanding the book if you look at figures 10-1 through 10-4 beginning on page 182 before you get very far. It's a helpful overview of the authors' point of view.
The book's strengths come in the authors' sympathy with those who have trouble holding such conversations, the many examples and advice on how to deal with difficult situations.
The book's main weakness comes in a desire to encapsulate the key lessons into ACRONYMS like STATE and ABCs. While they are nifty acronyms, I couldn't remember what they stood for by the next page. Something more visual at each stage would have helped me out.
I also think that the book would have benefited from more advice on how to be empathic with the other people involved.
But if you normally handle such situations by running the other way, screaming or slamming the door, this book will help you develop much more constructive habits that will leave you feeling better about yourself.
 Outstanding tool that gets results! July 7, 2004
David Schoof (Washington DC area, United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a coach to both individuals and groups, I see the very costly problems in the workplace that result from the important conversations that are not occurring because they are too hard or scary. The cost includes harm to relationships, careers and the bottom line. Both executives and high performance teams have been derailed by not addressing the dead elephants in the room. Crucial Conversations is absolutely the best book on the subject of difficult and critical communication. The book is very well organized, presenting clear steps to create an environment in which the hard conversation can happen. There are so many tools in this book that if it were not so well organized and presented in stages, the reader would be overwhelmed. The authors handle this very well - you can tell there was experience and expertise in adult learning informing the structure of the book. Why my clients and I become so excited about the book is its immediate results. You can start using the concepts and skills before you have finished the book! The foundations of making the environment safe - even for someone you may not like or respect is particularly effective. I have been very pleased with the results I have experienced - as well as my clients. Every leader should have this book on their bookshelf!A bonus to readers is the continued support from the authors on their website described in the book. There is a wealth of additional information, interactive reviews, assessments and even video vignettes that illustrate the learning points with relevance and humor. For those truly smitten, there are training courses available to assist in obtaining personal mastery or even to teach the material if desired. I recommend this book and Primal Leadership to top-level executives in the federal government and private sector. I, and they, have never been disappointed at the difference it has made. Enjoy!
Packed With Knowledge! June 12, 2004
Rolf Dobelli (Luzern Switzerland)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wanna argue? Nope. Then you need Kerry Patterson and his co-writers, who describe techniques for effective negotiation and conflict resolution in the context of important, potentially life-changing conversations. Examples include talking yourself into a promotion, bringing up important information at meetings and working out problems with your spouse. Some tips will sound familiar, such as knowing what you really want and being open to alternatives. However, the book also highlights some themes that are often forgotten in negotiations, such as making it safe for others to express their true feelings and desires. The authors explain how to avoid getting forced into false either-or choices and tell you how to remain alert for unstated alternatives or possibilities. This lively book includes many examples drawn from business and personal relationships. We recommend it in particular to those are new to negotiations and conflict resolution, though it teaches solid skills that any manager - or any marriage partner, for that matter - could benefit from mastering.
Excellent content, illustrated with clear diagrams June 11, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought this book after I heard Dr. Glickman, the author of Optimal Thinking-How To Be Your Best Self, recommend it during an Optimal Thinking seminar. When I read that Dr. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, recommended this book too I knew that this was going to be a life-changing book for me. I was right. This book has given me a formula for handling myself and others correctly during tough interactions. I am embarrassed to admit that I sometimes yelled and degraded people when I did not get what I wanted from them. Now I use optimal thinking to put my best self in charge, start with heart, look for safety problems, make it safe, retrace my path, and take the other steps recommended in this book. The steps are simple and clear. I am not perfect at them yet, and might never be, but I have already come a long way. You can't go wrong with this book, so press the "Buy" button right now, and if you want to optimize your effectiveness in all areas of life, buy the other books I mentioned.
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