What’s a Crucial Conversation?
A crucial conversation is a discussion between two or more people where (1) stakes are high, (2) opinions vary, and (3) emotions run strong. People generally choose to at least try to handle this sort of situation as well as they possibly can. Most times, however, they don’t do very well at all, for several reasons. • Physiologically, humans are designed to handle stressful situations with fists and feet (and the related hormones and physical reactions), not intelligence and attentiveness. • Most often these sorts of situations come up spontaneously and out of nowhere, and many people cannot come up with more than a knee-jerk response to them. • Many people simply don’t know where to start when dealing with these situations. The consequences of either avoiding or messing up one’s crucial conversations can be quite severe, as every aspect of people’s lives can be affected, from the personal (relationships with loved ones, friends and co-members of interest groups, our health) to the pro
