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Crucial Conversations Sparknotes

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Crucial Conversations Sparknotes
Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when the stakes are high
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler

The first version of this book was actually published in 2002, the Authors traveled the world and addressed hundreds of thousands of people, after a period of 25 years and more research, the authors revised their book with their new findings and published the second edition. They studied successful communicators and then concluded that what typically set those communicators apart from the rest was their ability to deal with crucial conversations. They found that this specific group of people possessed a skill-set that is easy to learn and in return allowed them to face any situation with nearly anybody,no matter power, position, or authority.
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It is written on the premise that when you are stuck in any situation, whether it be at home with a spouse or child or work with other members of leadership or supervisees that there is a crucial conversation keeping you from accomplishing the desired results. The book encourages you to speak up in these crucial moments effectively so that in return you can accomplish the results you are after. The book begins by defining a crucial conversation and continues in depth to exactly how we handle crucial conversations; We can avoid them, We can face them and handle them poorly and We can face them and handle them well. Throughout this summary, I will discuss the specifics of Chapter 7 (p.131), which I found to be the most applicable and meaningful currently. Chapter 7 titled, State my Path; How to Speak Persuasively, Not Abrasively highlights five skills that can help us advocate for our opinions and beliefs while making others feel safe, valued, and respected. We all have situations when we have strong opinions on a topic sometimes we speak without thinking and risk shutting others down. We can offend them, push our thoughts and views too hard or not take the time to try to understand their

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