Difficult Work

We attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day—whether dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with a spouse, or negotiating with a client. From the Harvard Negotiation Project, the organization that brought you Getting to Yes, Difficult Conversations provides a step-by-step approach to having those tough conversations with less stress and more success.

Are you living in chaos because you keep putting off important tasks until the last minute? Do you feel disorganized at home and at work? Are you experiencing feelings of anxiety, frustration, and helplessness because of all your unfinished projects? If so, it's time to break the procrastination habit and rewire your difficult work habits.

Whether it's a manager who keeps moving the goal posts, an uncooperative colleague, negative friend, or critical family member, some people are just plain hard to get along with. Often, your immediate response is to shrink or sulk, become defensive or attack. But there are smarter moves to make when dealing with difficult people. This book explains how to cope with a range of situations with difficult people and to focus on what you can change.

Successful people confront well. They know that setting healthy boundaries improves relationships and can solve important problems. They have discovered that uncomfortable situations can be avoided or resolved through direct conversation. But most of us don't know how to have difficult conversations, and we see confrontation as scary or adversarial.

Work relationships can be hard. The stress of dealing with difficult people dampens our creativity and productivity, degrades our ability to think clearly and make sound decisions, and causes us to disengage. In Getting Along, workplace expert and Harvard Business Review podcast host Amy Gallo identifies eight familiar types of difficult coworkers—the insecure boss, the passive-aggressive peer, the know-it-all, the biased coworker, and others—and provides strategies tailored to dealing constructively with each one.

Successful people confront well. They know that setting healthy boundaries improves relationships and can solve important problems. They have discovered that uncomfortable situations can be avoided or resolved through direct conversation. But most of us don't know how to have difficult conversations, and we see confrontation as scary or adversarial. Authors Henry Cloud and John Townsend take the principles from their award-winning and best-selling book, Boundaries, and apply them to a variety of the most common difficult situations and relationships.

Learning how to maintain strong, harmonious work relationships is essential. Unfortunately, at some point in your career, you'll have to work with people whose personalities or habits make every interaction with them a trial. Communications expert Renee Evenson has written the definitive phrasebook on how to confront the situations that can arise when dealing with difficult personalities and bring about a positive outcome. Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Difficult People is packed with practical and easy-to-use tactic.

Elizabeth Earnshaw is here to help. The renowned Gottman therapist, founder of A Better Life Therapy, and influential Instagram therapist behind @lizlistens has helped to transform countless relationships. With I Want This to Work, she presents for today’s generation the most effective and proven steps for relationship success.

Ever found yourself stuck in a conversation with someone who just won't listen, or worse, keeps twisting everything to suit their needs? Dealing with difficult people can feel like navigating a minefield, especially when you need to keep the peace without losing your mind. Whether it's a narcissist, a manipulator, or that one coworker who thinks they're always right, this guide is here to help you regain control.

Have you ever received an email that made your heart beat faster or spiked your blood pressure? We all know we're not supposed to respond right away, but how you respond will either increase or decrease the hostility and conflict. Hostile and undermining emails, letters, texts, and conversations can drain inordinate amounts of time, emotional energy and expense in the workplace. For over a dozen years, the BIFF method of communicating in writing has helped thousands of people calm conflicts and create clear communication in response to misinformation, blame, and unnecessary anger.

In many workplaces today, workplace conflict is an escalating issue. The shift to remote work and hybrid teams has left many people longing for deeper human connection. On top of this, add a younger generation clamoring for more feedback and impatient for change, steady advances in technology that can feel threatening to job security, or people reexamining priorities and quietly quitting. Take the increase in anxiety, stress, and depression, mix in the loss of human relationships, and you get less tolerance and understanding leading, ultimately, to more unresolved workplace conflict.

Having difficult conversations at work is a necessary discomfort. Instead of avoiding these conversations with your boss, colleagues, or direct reports, you need a strategy that won't leave you feeling like you were being talked at or ignored. The key to solving this problem starts and ends with changing the conversation. Recognizing that it takes two people to engage in meaningful conversation, Can We Talk? outlines what each contributor needs to do to achieve the best possible result.

This book contains some proven techniques for managing yourself, as well as managing difficult people. If you gain a better understanding of yourself, build your confidence, and use these techniques, then you’ll make your life a whole lot easier.

Confidence has been scientifically proven to directly affect our happiness. As pressures from society increase, low self-esteem, and social anxiety have become all too common for many amazing people. This phenomenon shows itself in a loss of words, public shyness or an inability to connect with others. Thankfully, confidence is a skill that almost anyone can learn.

You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and thrown in a blender. The blades start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do? If you want to work at Google, or any of America's best companies, you need to have an answer to this and other puzzling questions. Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? covers the importance of creative thinking, ways to get a leg up on the competition, what your Facebook page says about you, and much more.

Start building bridges instead of barriers! This essential guide offers a simple five-part framework that will help you have honest and enlightening conversations despite deep and fundamental disagreements.

“Well? Are you now tired of making a fool of yourself?” He turned to look at her. “I will leave the class. But it is only because I don’t want to reveal just how foolish you are.” She chuckled. “Look at who is talking. A new teacher who does not know how stupid he had made himself appear.” Enjoy the drama in this new tale of crossdressing.

Do you hate the people you work with? The simple fact of the matter is that when a number of people are gathered together for any length of time, there are going to be problems. It's just not easy for everyone to get along. But, short of quitting your job, what can you do?

Matt’s parents argue more often than not. His best friend Sammy has his own family circus of crazy. Together they create a safe space for their oddball group of friends. Navigating the woes of teenage life, they’re targeted by school jerk and lead jock Brandon. Maybe getting involved with Brandon’s girlfriend wasn’t Sammy’s brightest idea, but revenge fell on someone innocent. Guilt weighs heavy, and these powerless teens are looking for someone to make things right. When others’ troubles take center stage, Matt’s issues pale in comparison.

This guide gives you the tools to handle life's annoyances with humor and dignity. Have you ever replayed a rude comment long after it happened? Wondering why someone’s snarky remark can derail your day? Are you struggling to stay composed when a colleague cuts you off mid-sentence or when a stranger’s glare feels like an attack?