Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time

I found this book very meaty: as I was reading it, tonnes of conversations came up where I felt I had made an impact or, on the contrary, felt frustrated. This book helped me pinpoint what I had done well or what I had bungled. It was a perfect complement to a coaching session I recently attended and provided clear guidelines that I can follow at work, and at home.
I've started applying them and the results are phenomenal: I find people are listening better and I feel I am hearing them better. I even had someone come up to me and thank me for showing my ability to hear them out - to me, that's worth gold.
Practice makes perfect, and Scott's annexes will help me focus on staying on the right track. Her simple, straightforward approach is show more easy to understand and, with a bit of confidence, easy to apply. It takes the defensiveness out of the equation and replaces the value of silence and cuing. This book has definitely enriched my leadership skills. show less

'Fierce conversations is a style of conducting business, an attitude, a way of life'. Susan Scott is a Communications expert and has spent 16 years helping clients improve their conversations, and the book contains many case studies from CEOs who have engaged her services. Many of these were quite entertaining, and great eye openers.

Much of the book is guff, but there are pearls of wisdom scattered amongst the pages, and many of these gave me pause, as I wished I had the courage and or skill to deliver that type of message. The book also takes you through how to deal with conflict, one conversation at a time, and includes a plan and helpful tips and questions to assist you at 'starting the conversation you are most avoiding'.

I enjoyed show more some of the tips relating to co-workers and managers, and laughed at some of the questions: for example, a manager asking their co-worker: 'what are you hoping I won't bring up?' Can you imagine the response?

By the end of the book I realised I had absolutely no excuse to avoid the 'fierce conversation', and made an appointment with the person I had been most avoiding. This fierce conversation was extremely productive, and has lifted a burden I had been carrying for over a year.

Even though it could be culled (at least 50 pages) I thoroughly recommend the book if you could benefit from tips on communication (who wouldn't)? show less

Full disclosure: this was a mandatory read for all employees at my work.

It feels like the author thought of two catch phrases and wrote a book around them. There are lots of stories about the author being a successful "fierce" communicator, and lots of advice that is really just basic communication competency, like listening when someone is talking to you. Perhaps revelatory for CEOs and managers (the target demographic), but as an employee I found nothing useful here.

An excellent read. My work department read it just before a week of meetings, and I found it very helpful in learning more about myself as well as inspiring necessary conversations. Yes, there are a lot of anecdotes, but I appreciated their inclusion, as it got my mind working and thinking about how I would respond in such a situation.

This is the book that I needed to read at the right time. I had learned other methods of coaching such as co-active coaching; however this author and book were the reminders that I needed to keep using this model. I am a lead of 6 employees in a large corporation and using the Mineral Rights method is something that I do everyday in some form or another.

Two favorite quotes: 1. "The problem solved is the problem stated." That statement really speaks to me since people bring new ideas and potential solutions to me everyday for consideration; however everyone knows now that they need to explain what problem that it is solving before we can get into the pros and cons of the solution. 2. "The conversation is the relationship." Kind of speaks show more for itself...if you have read the book. ;-)

I sometimes found that the author examples spoke to me and sometimes they did not, but I believe that is due to different life experiences and perspectives. show less

Great book, applicable to many relationships -- work, family, faith. A call to be genuine in conversation, to show up completely and to require others to do the same. I've used principles from the book to guide conversations with friends, subordinates, and superiors.

A great book, and I felt I got a lot out of it. Lots of good stories to make the lessons memorable, and concrete advice. I'll be recommending this to others.