Dear Crucial Skills, What if you know you blew it in a crucial conversation, know you should go back and clean up the mess, but you don’t want to? What if you are too angry/hurt to say you’re sorry without feeling like a hypocrite for saying it because how you really feel is angry and …

Dear Crucial Skills, I work in a cubicle environment and sit next to a man who has a personal hygiene problem that is very hard to ignore. He’s a peer of mine—should I address this issue? And if so, how do I do it appropriately? He’s infamous in the office—everyone knows it seems, except him! …

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Al Switzler is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Authors, I recently found out that someone who was a confidante and a friend has been speaking badly about me to our mutual mentor. My relationship with this mentor has been …

Dear Crucial Skills, The department that I work in has recently hired a new manager. He sent out his first big change this week. He has decided that everyone in my position should now work 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. as our standard working hours. For the last fifteen years people in the department have been able …

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Authors, I am part of a volunteer networking organization that is suffering severe growing pains. Our president is the type of person who can get things going with her enthusiasm, but …

Dear Crucial Skills, I agree that when you’re talking with someone about a high stakes issue you need to move from silence or violence to healthy dialogue. But what if you’re married to a guy who doesn’t want to talk? Then what? How do you communicate with a non-responsive spouse? Signed, Silent Spouse Dear Silent, …

Dear Authors, My husband left me for someone else nine months ago. We have two children, both in middle school. We have worked out a child custody schedule where he has the kids every other weekend and we have traded off vacation times during the school year. He now is asserting he wants to have …

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Authors, After almost a year of working with a small software development company where few staff members have had a contract, we have all been given contracts to sign. The only …

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joseph Grenny is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Authors, I work with patients with chronic kidney disease as a nephrology nurse care manager. I had a patient who was quickly worsening and whose vascular access—or fistula—had healed for nine …