Change, Connection and Difficult Conversations

Emotional Intelligence 2.0

Travis Bradberry

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 delivers a step-by-step program for increasing your EQ via four, core EQ skills that enable you to achieve your fullest potential:

1) Self-Awareness
2) Self-Management
3) Social Awareness
4) Relationship Management

Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides

Geoffrey Cohen

Belonging is the feeling of being a part of a group that values, respects, and cares for us―a feeling that we can all cultivate in even the smallest corners of social life. Stanford University professor Geoffrey L. Cohen draws on his own and others’ groundbreaking scientific research to offer simple, concrete solutions for fostering a sense of belonging.

Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships

Daniel Goleman

In this book, Daniel Goleman explores an emerging new science with startling implications for our interpersonal world. Its most fundamental discovery: we are designed for sociability, constantly engaged in a “neural ballet” that connects us brain to brain with those around us.
Our reactions to others, and theirs to us, have a far-reaching biological impact, sending out cascades of hormones that regulate everything from our hearts to our immune systems, making good relationships act like vitamins—and bad relationships like poisons. We can “catch” other people’s emotions the way we catch a cold, and the consequences of isolation or relentless social stress can be life-shortening. This book argues that we have a built-in bias toward empathy, cooperation, and altruism–provided we develop the social intelligence to nurture these capacities in ourselves and others.

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

Joseph Grenny

Crucial Conversations provides powerful skills to ensure every conversation―especially difficult ones―leads to the results you want. Written in an engaging and witty style, it teaches readers how to be persuasive rather than abrasive, how to get back to productive dialogue when others blow up or clam up, and it offers powerful skills for mastering high-stakes conversations, regardless of the topic or person.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives? According to the authors of this book, the primary obstacle is a conflict that’s built into our brains. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort—but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.

Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior

Kerry Patterson

Colleagues break a rule, coworkers miss a deadline, friends fail to live up to commitments (or just plain behave badly), and nobody says a word. With repeated infractions, individuals become increasingly upset until they finally do speak their minds, but they do so poorly–often creating whole new sets of problems. Crucial Accountability teaches you how to deal with violated expectations in a way that solves the problem at hand without harming the relationship–and, in fact, even strengthens it. This book offers the tools for improving relationships in the workplace and in life and for resolving all these problems–permanently.

Radical Candor

Kim Scott

Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses. Drawing on years of first-hand experience, and distilled clearly to give practical advice to the reader, Radical Candor shows you how to be successful while retaining your integrity and humanity. Radical Candor is the perfect handbook for those who are looking to find meaning in their job and create an environment where people love both their work and their colleagues, and are motivated to strive to ever greater success.

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

Susan Scott

The master teacher of positive change through powerful communication, Susan Scott wants you to succeed. To do that, she explains, you must transform everyday conversations at work and at home with effective ways to get your message across—and get what you want. In this guide, which includes a workbook and The Seven Principles of Fierce Conversations, she teaches you how to:

• Overcome barriers to meaningful communication
• Expand and enrich relationships with colleagues, friends, and family
• Increase clarity and improve understanding
• Handle strong emotions—on both sides of the table
• Connect with colleagues and family at a deep level