Personal Communication

Why is the gap so great between our hopes, our intentions, even our decisions - and what we are actually able to bring about? Even when we are able to make important changes - in our own lives or the groups we lead at work - why are the changes are so frequently short-lived and we are soon back to business as usual? What can we do to transform this troubling reality?

Let's face it: We all know people who are irrational. No matter how hard you try to reason with them, it never works. So what's the solution? How do you talk to someone who's out of control? What can you do with a boss who bullies, a spouse who yells, or a friend who frequently bursts into tears? In his book Just Listen, Mark Goulston shared his best-selling formula for getting through to the resistant people in your life. Now he brings his communication magic to the most difficult group of all - the downright irrational.

The coauthors of the New York Times best-selling Difficult Conversations take on the toughest topic of all: How we see ourselves. Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen have spent the past 15 years working with corporations, nonprofits, governments, and families to determine what helps us learn and what gets in our way. In Thanks for the Feedback, they explain why receiving feedback is so crucial yet so challenging. They blend the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology with practical, hard-headed advice.

Actionable and applicable verbal maneuvers for just about every phase of conversation—good and bad. Whatever your conversational goal, you’ll find tactics to put you in a winning position—in a literal sense with arguments and in a figurative sense with making friends. You can never underestimate the power of a simple conversation.

The Like Switch is packed with all the tools you need for turning strangers into friends, whether you are on a sales call, a first date, or a job interview. As a Special Agent for the FBI's National Security Division's Behavioral Analysis Program, Dr. Jack Schafer developed dynamic and breakthrough strategies for profiling terrorists and detecting deception. Now, Dr. Schafer has evolved his proven-on-the-battlefield tactics for the day-to-day, but no less critical battle of getting people to like you.

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.

Anyone, at any time, can slip into being a dick - and many do. Yet Don't Be a Dick is especially for people who have noticed how their own behavior tends to backfire, leaving them feeling isolated or uncertain why their seemingly justified actions consistently have such poor results. If you're constantly using the refrain, "It's not me, it's them," whenever something goes wrong, Mark Borg is here to tell you that it is, in fact, you. The good news is there is something you can do to reverse these behaviors and live a happier, more fulfilling life.

Do you want to learn the right mindset to communicate effectively, prevent unnecessary fights, and increase the feeling of mutual love and respect? The secret to a happy relationship is good communication skills! This audiobook will help you learn to deal with situations more constructively and positively. The tips given here will help in reviving the love between a couple while restoring love and respect for each other. These communication skills will help you navigate through difficult conversations with your partner as well as others.

Negotiation is not a zero-sum game. It’s an essential skill for your career that can also improve your closest relationships and your everyday life. Still, people often shy away from it, feeling defeated before they’ve even started. In this groundbreaking new book on negotiation, Alexandra Carter - Columbia law professor and mediation expert who has helped students, business professionals, the United Nations, and more - offers a straightforward accessible approach anyone can use to ask for and receive more.

Whenever we worry about what to eat, how to love, or simply how to be happy, we are worrying about how to lead a good life. No goal is more elusive. In How to Be a Stoic, philosopher Massimo Pigliucci offers Stoicism, the ancient philosophy that inspired the great emperor Marcus Aurelius, as the best way to attain it. Stoicism is a pragmatic philosophy that teaches us to act depending on what is within our control and separate things worth getting upset about from those that are not.

Minding your manners is an acquired skill, but what serves you well elsewhere could trip you up in Japan. Save yourself possible embarrassment with Etiquette Guide to Japan. An inside look at Japanese social graces, it answers all the questions of the thoughtful traveler. Extensive, specific information on Japanese business etiquette assists listeners traveling to Japan for business.

Why is it so hard for us to connect on a deep level with others, particularly those who are suffering? We constantly find ourselves interrupted and inundated with tasks and stresses. We are disconnected, sleepwalking through our lives, unable to help even ourselves. There is a better way. Dr. David Rakel draws on his clinical experience with patients and the latest research from medicine, psychology, and neuroscience to describe the power of human connection and the ways it can be used to boost health and well-being.

What's Wrong with China is the widely anticipated follow-up to Paul Midler's Poorly Made in China, an expose of China manufacturing practices. Applying a wider lens in this account, he reveals many of the deep problems affecting Chinese society as a whole. Once again, Midler delivers the goods by rejecting commonly held notions, breaking down old myths, and providing fresh explanations of lesser-understood cultural phenomena.

Learn how to master your emotions and improve your social skills with the tips and techniques presented in this two-book collection. This collection includes Emotional Intelligence and Anger Management.

Dr. Sue Johnson's landmark book Hold Me Tight has helped more than 1 million listeners strengthen and repair their romantic relationships. Now, finally, comes a companion workbook designed to help couples open up, reestablish safe emotional connection, and renew their bond. Drawing on the latest developments in Emotionally Focused Therapy, a field pioneered by Dr. Johnson, The Hold Me Tight Workbook is packed with sage wisdom and science-backed advice.

The story of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff and his command of USS Benfold has become legendary inside and outside the Navy. Now Abrashoff offers this fascinating tale of top-down change for anyone trying to navigate today's uncertain business seas. When Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of the Benfold, a ship armed with every cutting-edge system available, it was like a business that had all the latest technology but only some of the productivity.

As the roles of men and women evolve, relationships must evolve as well. To meet our new needs, we require a new kind of relationship.

In Beyond Mars and Venus, Gray takes the Mars-Venus framework to the next level, helping listeners to grow together in love. Through real-life examples and simple exercises, Beyond Mars and Venus shows you how to bring you and your partner closer than ever before.

As a White House speechwriter, Terry Szuplat helped craft hundreds of speeches for President Obama. But when it came to public speaking himself, Szuplat—like many people—was gripped by anxiety and preferred to stay in the shadows. When he was invited to give the first major speech of his life, he faced a choice: keep hiding from what scared him, or finally face his fears.

Anyone, whatever their age, gender, culture, or abilities, can find themselves separate and disconnected from others and feeling lonely. If you feel lonely, you are lonely. And it's not nice. But your situation can change for the better! In Lonely Less, best-selling author Gill Hasson delivers practical strategies you can implement immediately to counter loneliness and connect with other people.

Stop enabling, people pleasing, and being so agreeable. The Art of Everyday Assertiveness is a guide for the chronically nice, overwhelmed, and accommodating. It is a deep psychological dive into what makes us lack assertiveness and how to systematically combat those compulsions.