How could I forget a book I wrote the Foreword for? Moreover, a foreword that suggested the authors ought to bag a Nobel for their work? Well, it had slipped my mind until I saw and purchased the finished product this morning, at 5:30 a.m., at Miami International Airport. And the prize goes to: Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior, by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler.
Here’s the back-cover description: “Behind the problems that routinely plague families, teams, and organizations are individuals who either can’t or won’t deal with failed promises. Others have broken rules, missed deadlines, or just plain behaved badly. If anybody steps up to the issue, he or she often does a lousy job [ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT ME? HOW DID THEY KNOW?] and creates a whole new set of problems.”
As I said in my endorsement-Foreword, the “crucial confrontation” is arguably the fundamental atomic particle of relationships. The careful examination of just this one thing is powerful beyond measure. The book combines originality and importance, is tied to proven psychological and social-psychological research, and has compelling case material as well. No wonder I concluded, “Hey, if you read only one ‘management’ book this decade … I’d insist that it be Crucial Confrontations.”