Tough Conversations

Before testifying in a high-stakes case, a theorist and his coach swap horror stories about their nerves hijacking them and the lessons they learned.Tom’s top four idea for conquering nervousness:Write happy endingsCelebrate incremental improvementExternalize your nasty voiceIgno ...  Show more

A leader is getting pressured to stop being so prickly and gain some humility. With her coach, she explores whether it’s even possible for humility to ever be a strength. Core concepts in this episode:Humility is confidence without defensiveness.Assess yourself on the humility sc ...  Show more

Are you dreading a work discussion? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Leslie John, a professor at Harvard Business School. They talk through what to do when you need to set your boss straight, meet with a direct report who wanted your new job, or hash things o ...  Show more

Mark Sieverkropp: How to Start a Conversation With Anyone Mark and I were both featured by Forbes as 25 Professional Networking Experts to Watch in 2015 1. First Impressions last the longest John Corcoran spoke in episode 169 on what we can do to recover from a bad first impressi ...  Show more

• One useful conversational skill is chunking, where you vary the level of information you get coming back to you. This way, you can reach an agreement, acquire more and correct detail, or even persuade people to move from one plane of thought to another. Chunk up to gain a broad ...  Show more

In our personal and professional lives, some conversations are harder than others. To navigate the difficulties of discussing what matters most, Professor Irv Grousbeck says we need the right balance of convictio ...