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

Written by Susan Craig Scott

Narrated by Susan Craig Scott

FIERCE CONVERSATIONS
A way of conducting business.
An attitude.
A way of life.
Susan Scott trains clients in the art of fierce conversations, empowering them to achieve exceptional results through transforming dialogue. Success hinges on engaging people in ways that interrogate reality, provoke learning, tackle tough challenges, tap our deepest aspirations, and enrich relationships. Fierce Conversations takes you step-by-step through your first fierce conversation -- with yourself -- and on to the most challenging and important conversations facing you.
Susan Scott teaches you how to:

• Overcome barriers to meaningful conversation
• Expand and enrich the territory you explore with colleagues, friends, and family
• Explore issues by mining for increased clarity, improved understanding, and impetus for change
• Confront challenges with courage, compassion, and skill
• Leverage new skills for frictionless debate
• Handle strong emotions - your own as well as others'
• Build breakthrough relationships with colleagues, clients, friends, and family

Fierce Conversations is the master guidebook to transforming the conversations that are central to your success, offering a new way of relating to people -- at work, and in every area of your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Sep 1, 2002
• ISBN: 9780743546973

Susan Craig Scott

Susan Scott is the founder of Fierce, Inc., a global training company whose clients include Yahoo, Starbucks, Cisco, BP, General Dynamics, New York Life, Nestle, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Lego, C.A.R.E., Best Buy, Coca-Cola, and Ernst & Young. Scott is the author of Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life—One Conversation at a Time. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

Reviews for Fierce Conversations

[carpe_librum · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

'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 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)?

[profh-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This person writes at high school level with elementary school level concepts. If you get something out of this I feel both glad and sorry for you (not saying that to be mean...it is just that to go through life without even a primitive understanding of communication is a real shame).

[cecilturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[vvilliam_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[dangraham_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A pretty obvious book about saying what you need to say to people and the value of doing so.

[gshuk_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Many insites into real conversations. For example:Insite: Use "and" instead of "but" when saying 2 facts. If you use the word and it is open and allows both parties to figure out what to do about it. But signals you have made a decision. eg I know you would like more time but/and we have a deadline that can not be moved.

[llaammaa_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[loritori · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 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.