In business, leadership, and personal relationships, the ability to manage difficult conversations is a critical skill. Whether it is addressing underperformance, negotiating a contract, delivering ...

This Q&A is part of Observer’s Expert Insights series, where industry leaders, innovators and strategists distill years of experience into direct, practical takeaways and deliver clarity on the issues ...

Whether they’re about giving tough feedback, addressing conflict or navigating sensitive issues with stakeholders, having difficult conversations is an inevitable part of leadership. How you handle ...

We live in polarizing times and it’s easy for conversation to lead to topics that spark high passions—from politics and climate change to DEI, immigration, or broadly defined human-centric leadership.

In the professional world, difficult conversations are inevitable. Whether it's delivering a negative performance review or discussing a potential layoff, the way these conversations are handled can ...

When the world of work turned upside down in 2020, we quickly adapted to Zoom calls, Slack threads and digital whiteboards. At first, this newfound flexibility felt liberating. But as we settle into a ...

“I’m sorry, I have something troublesome to tell you. You may not agree with it, so I’m just going to come out and say it.” Conflict, disagreement, tangled beliefs and emotions—these are some of the ...

Working with senior executives taught me that leaders who advance their careers don't avoid tough conversations that make everyone else uncomfortable. Instead, they've figured out how to turn those ...

Today’s very best leaders stand out in great part because they have developed and honed the ability to skillfully handle difficult conversations. It’s this ability to talk with employees about ...

Ever forced yourself to have a tough talk with someone in your life and found success? ‘Say More’ discusses how to have difficult conversations. What does it take to be a good communicator? Do you ...

Sometimes in life, we have to have conversations that we know will be difficult both for us and for the person we’re talking to. A parent needs to reprimand a wayward teenager, a teacher needs to ...