Conversation Secrets for Tomorrow's Leaders: 21 Obvious Secrets Leaders Do Not Use Enough

By Dr. Mindy L. Gewirtz, Steve Hamilton-Clark and Carrie E. Gallant

Transformational conversations are a leader's superpower. It is estimated that 75% of work gets done through conversations.

Leaders who practice these Conversation Secrets empower themselves and their teams to ignite innovation and transform organizations. Leaders learn to be more adaptive, to lean into the language of possibility, and thrive through uncertainty. Their powerful conversations emphasize the human-centered core of the future of work, building trust, connection, and collaboration with all stakeholders: employees, shareholders, and the community. Learn these 21 Secrets to unleash your leadership superpower.

Leadership is being democratized. Command and control leadership structures are crumbling in favor of more agile and collaborative designs. The Covid-19 Pandemic induced a work from home movement that has been revealing the 'real' human side of business. We live in a vastly, ever increasingly complex world.

To effectively navigate this new world, tomorrow's leaders need to champion new conversations that recognize and elevate all stakeholders in their business, beyond just shareholder capitalism. The successful re-invention of organizations is being ignited through powerful conversations—perhaps a lost art—secrets of which this book starts to reveal.

The authors have thousands of hours of executive coaching experience which they mined to develop these 21 conversation secrets. These secrets represent the areas where leaders consistently needed support to drive up their overall impact by having powerful conversations. Specifically, these conversations emphasize the human-centered core of the future of work, building trust and collaboration with all stakeholders: employees, shareholders, and the community.

We are each leaders in our own lives and work. Our collective success accelerates when we apply these secrets. This has the power to inspire trust, connection, and foster inclusion and collaboration, creating a ripple effect in the future of work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736461617

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More Praise For

CONVERSATION SECRETS FOR TOMORROW’S LEADERS

21 Obvious Secrets Leaders Do Not Use Enough

If you are looking to transform your organization so everyone feels empowered to do their best, read Conversation Secrets for Tomorrow’s Leaders by Dr. Mindy Gewirtz, Steve Hamilton-Clark and Carrie Gallant. The book does a masterful job providing 21 ways leaders can use conversations to build trust, connection, and collaboration. A quick, practical read, this profound book will guide you to change your work culture, and the world, one conversation at a time.

- Dr. Marcia Reynolds, named #5 in the Top Global Coaching Gurus, and #1 female coach, and author of Coach the Person, Not the Problem and The Discomfort Zone: How Leaders Turn Difficult Conversations into Breakthroughs

Conversations are essential. Leaders cannot afford to miss out on the conversation secrets that Mindy, Steve and Carrie are sharing. Whether it’s building your network, leading your team, implementing strategy or managing stakeholder relationships, mastering these conversation secrets will take you to the next level in your career.

- May Busch, former COO Morgan Stanley Europe, now executive coach, speaker, advisor and author of Accelerate: Nine Capabilities to Achieve Success at Any Career Stage.

If communication is humanity’s ‘free’ superpower this book is an excellent investment to help you become a communication superhero.

- Dan Pontefract, leadership strategist and best-selling author of Lead. Care. Win, Open to Think and The Purpose Effect.

Everything meaningful in business and in life happens through conversations. Leaders in all walks of life – lawyers, business owners, parents – need to connect, build trust and inspire collaboration to accomplish the great things we are here to do. Conversation Secrets for Tomorrows’ Leaders primes you for the personal growth required to up-level your ability to have and hold the conversations that will move you, your relationships and your work forward in the world.

- Ali Katz Esq., CEO of New Law Business Model, named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Powerful Women of 2020, and author of The New Law Business Model Revealed: Build a Lucrative Law Practice That You (And Your Clients) Love.

Mindy, Steve and Carrie deftly acknowledge the changing times leaders are having to navigate and they do so with respect, understanding and thoughtfulness. In straightforward and practical ways these experienced coaches provide a treasure trove of tools and ideas to help leaders build trust, conversation and collaboration at a time we need it most. This is a must-read for leaders and those aspiring to be one.

- Cinnie Noble LLM, founder of CINERGY® Coaching and author of Conflict Management Coaching: The CINERGY® Model

"Despite the global impact of covid-19, there’s something to give us hope, a ray of light amid the gloom--for me, it’s this book. The authors offer actionable points for leaders to communicate with empathy, building trust, connection and collaboration. Packed with practical advice, this book is a call for hope for leaders, in these and other challenging times."

- Professor Raju Vir, Master Certified Coach (MCC), Senior Leadership Coach for C-Suite and top teams, Senior Leadership Coach at Saudi Telecom (STC), Prism Award Finalist 2019 (ICF)

© 2021 by Mindy L. Gewirtz, Stephan Hamilton-Clark, and Carrie E. Gallant

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the authors’ imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Cover design and image: Moonlit Fox Design

Print ISBN: 978-1-73646-1-600

eBook ISBN: 978-1-73646-1-617

Printed in the United States of America.

First Edition

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE

The Language of Trust

Secret 1: Speak with Integrity

Secret 2: Tap into Values for Greater Impact

Secret 3: Name It!

Secret 4: Manage Expectations

Secret 5: Check in with Your Mind’s Eye

Secret 6: Admit Mistakes and Thrive

Secret 7: Ask Powerful Questions

CHAPTER TWO

The Language of Connection

Secret 8: Adapt Listening to The Purpose of the Conversation

Secret 9: Stop Avoiding Difficult Conversations

Secret 10: Slow Down, Check In

Secret 11: Beware—Movies of the Mind

Secret 12: Manage Fear Central—Which Brain Is in Charge?

Secret 13: Express Your Thoughts Positively

Secret 14: Lean into Conversational and Emotional Agility

CHAPTER THREE

The Language of Collaboration

Secret 15: Leverage Modern Power

Secret 16: Practice Yes, and …

Secret 17: Let Go of Addicted to Being Right

Secret 18: Test Your Assumptions to Resolve Conflicts

Secret 19: Explore What if …? Questions

Secret 20: Be Stronger Than Your Excuses

Secret 21: Create the Climate for Collaboration

Down the Line: What Happened to Our Courageous Leader?

Epilogue

References

About the Authors

Preface

Why Did We Write This Book?

At the heart of writing this book is our passion—Mindy, Steve, and Carrie’s—to prepare tomorrow’s leaders for the global awakening happening today. The 21 conversation secrets are perhaps obvious—as often the best secrets are hidden in plain sight. We chose these 21 secrets from our collective decades-long experience coaching senior leaders around the world. These secrets are easy to learn and require practice to sustain impact. Yet we have witnessed time and again, that leaders forget, avoid, or don’t use these conversational tools enough to heighten their leadership impact to truly make a difference. These secrets are conversational tools essential for developing the culture of trust, connection, and collaboration needed for innovation at the best of times, and during volatile and uncertain times.

What is The World