(Book ships first week of March)

  • 116-pages of techniques and tools to help you tackle the most difficult business discussions with more finesse and less stress
  • Easy-to-read and accessible, with anecdotes and case studies that illustrate a common problem and a tried-and-true solution
  • Includes Tough Talks self-assessment and step-by-step process for conquering your avoidance gremlin
  • With special code at the back of book giving you access to great bonus material
  • Plus, 25% discount, and a signed bookmark!

PRE-ORDER TODAY!

What Tough Talk Are You Avoiding?

What is the cost to your business and your sanity?

It’s possible there are some who take delight in confrontation, but the fact is that most of us rank unpleasant workplace discussion a few rungs below shark attack on the universal ladder of enjoyment.

Unfortunately, tough talks are a fact of business life. And here’s another fact: they don’t always go smoothly or even as planned. People are emotional beings and sometimes they just don’t want to “hear it.”

The good news is that there are basic strategies that can help make confrontations, verbal skirmishes and angry exchanges far more manageable.
Public relations professionals, for whom this book is dedicated, are some of the most extroverted people in the world. Ironically, they are also some of the most non-confrontational people on earth.

Before PR pros can be the masters of tough talks at home or professional life, they need to develop the habit of having them. No one is born with this ability, it must be learned along life’s journey. This fun-to-read book is packed with sound principles and proven tools to help guide PR pros with those tough talks they need to have with clients, colleagues and employees. You’ll learn the power of framing and how omitting extraneous details can make bad news easier to swallow.

And it will demonstrate how confronting difficulty head-on – thoughtfully and sympathetically but without ego or emotion – can earn you the respect and admiration not only of the other person in the room, but of everyone else in the office.

This book is for executives, managers and human resources professionals in public relations — or, any industry where dealing with difficult conversations is part of the job. From firing an employee, pointing out offensive behavior, or confronting a difficult client, this book has the answers.

PRE-ORDER TODAY!

{ 0 comments }

As I wrote two weeks ago, your values will guide your tough talk. Understanding what you value and what is important in your life, will guide you in deciding whether to have a tough talk and how to approach it.

A Tough Talk is not an angry talk. It is meant to be productive. It is meant to make things better.

If we take a look at values, let’s start at honesty. How do you know if that value is being challenged?

You and your boss have been working hard together in cohesion and are beginning to see the fruits of your labor. But then something happens. All of a sudden your boss begins to keep information from you. And you hear it through the grapevine that you apparently dropped the ball on something (which you didn’t). But nevertheless, you are beginning to get cut out of the loop. You mention it to your boss and he says he is too busy and forgot to give you the new information. So, now not only is your boss not being honest, but is lying, either by commission or omission depending which side you believe. A Tough Talk is now needed.

What can come of having a tough talk?

{ 0 comments }

Understanding EQ Creates Win-Win

January 17, 2012

Let’s jump right into the topic for this week: Emotional Intelligence, or EQ. We all know what IQ is, but IQ does not help you have a Tough Talk. EQ can and does. EQ is defined as: “Emotional intelligence is the innate potential to feel, use, communicate, recognize, remember, describe, identify, learn from, manage, understand [...]

Read the full article →

Values Guide Tough Talks

January 10, 2012

Before you have the actual Tough Talk, you have to decide that it is the path you want to take. (Chances are, if you’re thinking about it, it is the correct path.)
But the toughest talk you will probably ever have is the one you’re going to have with yourself about having the Tough Talk. I [...]

Read the full article →

Your Tough Talk

January 5, 2012

The beginning of a new year is always an exciting time. Why? Because it is a symbolic “new beginning.” Wouldn’t it be great if it really were a new beginning where all the problems and challenges that you forgot about over the past few weeks actually had been fixed and now you world were back [...]

Read the full article →