What I’m Reading: Crucial Conversations

As I’ve said in the past, one of the questions I get as I travel the world most frequently is: What book are you reading? So in the spirit of that I want to continue to share books I’m reading (you can see last month’s entry here).

What I’m Reading: Crucial Conversations

I’m usually reading three or four books at a time.

• One is usually a religious book
• Another is usually a self-help skills book
• Another one is a management and/or leadership type book

Depending on how I’m feeling I’ll dive in and take notes.

Crucial Conversations

One of the books I want to share with you that I just love is Crucial Conversations.

I’ve read this book more than once and I continue to use it as a resource when I’m managing and running the company. I also use it in many interactions in my personal life.

The gist of the book is this: When stakes are really high and we need to communicate and talk to someone, how can we help manage that for the best possible outcome for all involved?

When we have a crucial conversation with someone, the No. 1 tip from the book is to stay in dialogue and not let your emotions take control of how you’re communicating.

I think controlling our emotions is so important. And that starts before the meeting ever begins or we ever have a conversation. We create a dialogue in our head.

We’re storytellers. We’re master storytellers. And we’ve obviously told ourselves many stories many, many times. Before we go into a conversation we’ve already told ourselves a story: What’s going to happen? What could the outcomes be?

Then emotions start flowing, and that drives how we communicate with each other.

If we can take control of those emotions, take control of how we communicate with each other and do so in a very, very level dialogue-esque way with each other, we will be much more effective in how we communicate.

I recommend you pick up Crucial Conversations. It’s an easy read and filled with great content. I’ve asked all of the management team at USANA to read this book and apply its principles as well.