Episode 7: Crucial Conversations

The Clearly Product Book Club Podcast - Clearly Product

As product managers, we have a bucket full of tools to finesse an idea from concept to customer. But slice and dice it how you will, we pass each of those hard-earned skills though some filter of how we communicate. Generally speaking, we do most of our communication by spoken word.

How much do you think about how you speak? We wanted to give this a thorough discussion, so we chose “Crucial Conversations” for this months conversation starter.

Turns out, this book is about a small subset of “crucial” conversation which the authors define as conversations where:
(1) stakes are high
(2) opinions vary and
(3) emotions run strong

While product managers must be adept communicators, few of our conversations are apt to be “crucial” by the definition of these authors, so we explored related areas outside the explicit domain of the book.

And this led us to a much higher value conversation! Instead of focusing exclusively on defusing potentially volatile moments, we shared our thoughts and experiences across a broad spectrum of conversational skills.

Listen in for our thoughts on PM communication skills: observing beyond the words, making safe space for others, leading with narrative, and more!

P.S. Looking for our thoughts on other types of communication? Check out our episodes on writing and on negotiation!

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