Kerry Patterson
Profile
Kerry is a prolific writer who has coauthored numerous articles and award-winning training programs. Kerry taught at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management and then cofounded Interact Performance Systems, where he worked for ten years as vice president of research and development. Kerry is coauthor of the New York Times bestsellers Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High and Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior. Kerry has completed doctoral work at Stanford University. He is a recipient of the Mentor of the Year Award and the 2004 William G. Dyer Distinguished Alumni Award from Brigham Young University.
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Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Matt says – This was a great book, probably a little heavy going at first but once you get into the flow and writing style then it’s great. The cover of the book says: -
“Crucial Conversation gives you the tools to handle life’s most difficult and important conversations. You’ll learn how to: -
• Prepare for high-stakes situations with a proven technique
• Transform anger and hurt feelings into powerful dialogue
• Make it a safe to talk about almost anything
• Be persuasive, not abrasive”
I would agree that after reading this book you certainly get great skills in all the above. The best thing about it is that you can try each skill straight away and have some context as you are reading.
Since reading this book I have used some of the techniques they teach and found that they really do work! What I like best is that they want you to create an open forum when in a conversation, so everyone feels happy to contribute.
The only negative I would say is that if you did actually want around all day using the techniques word for word people would find you very odd!
To sum up – Great book, well written with some excellent information
Category – Communication
