Susan Scott

What's like one practical tip from that kind of deal in terms of like how to have good conversations with people?

So we use a foundational book called Fierce Conversations that we absolutely love by Susan Scott.

It's a fantastic model to just kind of help you structure because I think part of it is just if you don't come in prepared with the specifics of what you're trying to accomplish and what the consequences are, the emotion and the fear of damaging the relationship, get in the way.

I will say this late in my career, I still pull out that form when I'm ready to give somebody feedback.

yeah i love it uh um book that's made a big impact on you? I mean, we just talked about one, but is there another book that's made a big impact? So

I have Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott is another one.

And I think it's what I try and train my staff on every day.

But I think one of her seven principles is let silence do the heavy lifting.

I was talking about a wildlife reserve that was in South Jersey that I want to highlight.

I am not going to talk about... uh uh the water drought in the southwest because we're i i don't want to dig into that i don't want to dig into that um but my hidden gem is a book so fierce conversations by susan scott and i know it's a little cheesy and it's a little cliche considering that we're talking about a podcast we're talking about fierce conversations this book but This book, I actually really do like it.

It's talking about how you can strengthen your relationships, whether it's at work, business, personal, and the idea that it's through conversations that real change happens.

How do you make...

But a single conversation can change.

And I think it's just the power of those moments of having real conversations.

And Susan Scott has created a career out of helping a lot of people and a lot of businesses having real conversations.

So that's it.

And as I've evolved and as my life has gotten bigger and business and opportunities have come, I've realized more and more that the relationships, the conversation is the relationship.

You know, I became a certified teacher of Susan Scott's Fierce Conversations, which is an amazing book.

And it's all about the conversation is the relationship and how to have conversations central to your success.

So it's always been a part of me and it's grown more as I've gotten older.

It's been in existence for 25 years.

The founder, Susan Scott, is still part of our organization.

And it's still interesting the human side of Fierce Conversations.

Sure, conversations have changed.

Be your authentic self, but be the best darn version of that, and know, and give yourself grace, 'cause we're gonna fall short.

We're human." But man, how we spend our seconds, and minutes, and hours, and days, and weeks, and months, and years is truly how we're living our lives.

And I love what Susan Scott says in her book, and today as we talk about feedback and confrontation conversations.

She says, you know, "What's being said and what's not being said in our conversations in our life, both professionally and personally, is what's getting done and what's not getting done, and what's changing and what's not changing by the conversations that we have." And I think that's so important as we get started here today, speaking about feedback before it reaches confrontation conversations, where it mitigates so many of those confrontation conversations.

There's a book behind it and they have a whole workshop series.

I believe her name is Susan Scott off the top of my head.

And it's really about like even what what we just did.

And it's about leaning into things that, you know, Maybe you would shy away from or feel you're like difficult conversations.

We have a conversation in our head.

Susan Scott, the Fierce Conversations author.

Ah.

One of my favorite quotes is, "Every conversation we have is with ourselves, and on occasion someone else is involved."

I agree.

Have you ever read the book, So Radical Candor, the one that was probably the predecessor to that, Jeff, probably about the time you and I were going into business, 2005, probably a little bit after that, Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott, same surname, would you believe you ever read that one?

No, so my book philosophy, I've always read books with dragons and wizards in them, hence my tattoos.

But I only started reading business books about 10 years ago.

And I've since read hundreds of books about business because I like reading books about dragons and wizards.

Lovely.

In Fierce Conversation, Susan Scott said that one of the most likeable skills on planet Earth is people who can be agreeable.

Now, what that means is that we can disagree, but at the end of the day, we've sort of got to work out how to have healthy disagreement.