Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most

by Douglas Stone

the only reason some of them survive is because their competition is equally lousy at confronting the things that matter most. And the pressures to work more effectively and efficiently are only going to increase. Businesses have spent the last twenty years focusing on process and technology improvements, and on cost cutting, and by now there’s not much left to cut. For the next ten (or fifty) years, breakthrough performance is going to depend instead on people learning to deal with conflict more effectively and, indeed, leveraging it for competitive advantage. Ideally, conflict and differing perspectives, handled well and efficiently, should become a competitive asset – an engine for rapid learning and innovation. And that’s the upside: companies that nurture these communication skills as a core competence for leaders will leave their competition in the dust.