Talk is powerful. Engaging in the right conversation at the right time is key to both personal and organizational success. And it isn’t just ‘difficult’ conversations that matter. The Four Conversations clearly demonstrates it is the everyday dialogue we have with one another that is critical. Armed with a solid body of research and their own first-hand observations, Jeffrey and Laurie Ford identify four types of conversations that every one of us must use to get things done: initiative conversations to introduce something new; understanding conversations to help people relate to new ideas or processes; performance conversations to request specific actions and results; and closure conversations to complete work and give people a sense of accomplishment . They identify the specific elements that make each of these conversations successful and show how they can be put together in different ways to achieve different objectives. The Four Conversations demonstrates how to use the right conversation at the right time—planning and starting each one well, and finishing every conversation effectively—to produce the results we want and the improved productivity our organizations need. And through dozens of personal stories and sample dialogues, the authors illustrate how real people in real situations have used the four conversations, either alone or in combination, to more effectively combat common workplace problems and lay the foundations for enduring success: stronger relationships, better buy-in, and a greater feeling of personal and professional achievement for everyone.

A lack of employee engagement and support plagues organizations world-wide. In FOUR CONVERSATIONS, leaders encounter the lost art of conversation. By categorizing employees, volunteers, or team members into four distinct conversational groups, leaders strategically connect individuals with the purpose of their organization. This concise leadership guide is a must for all leaders who desire a highly supportive and engaged team.

Talk is powerful. And it isn't just ‘difficult' conversations that matter— the everyday dialogue we have with one another is critical to both personal and organizational success. Packed with sample dialogues and dozens of personal stories, and backed by solid research and the authors' firsthand observations, The Four Conversations describes how to get maximum results from conversations that every one of us must use to get things done: initiative conversations introducing something new, understanding conversations to help people relate to ideas or processes, performance conversations requesting specific actions, and closure conversations that recognize achievements and signal completion of the work. As Jeffrey and Laurie Ford clearly demonstrate, engage in the right conversation at the right time—plan and start each one well, finish every one effectively—and extraordinary things can happen.

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus was first published two hundred years ago on March 11, 1818. Shelley's novel warns of the possible sacrifices for knowledge and hints toward the costs to man and society, how new knowledge can redefine human existence and experience. These themes of Frankenstein have been reinterpreted and applied to debates regarding atomic weapons, nuclear energy, cloning, bioengineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). This collection brings together CMU scholars in the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences to consider the relevance of Shelley's novel today, particularly how it helps frame the responsibility of investigators to consider the consequences of artificial intelligence and a technologically-augmented human society.

"Since the highly acclaimed Courageous Conversations About Race offered educators a frame work and tools for promoting racial equity, many schools have implemented the Courageous Conversations Protocol. Now ... in a book that's rich with anecdote, Singleton celebrates the successes, outlines the difficulties, and provides specific strategies for moving Courageous Conversations from racial equity theory to practice at every level, from the classroom to the school superintendent's office"--Back cover.

Based on data and insights from over 100k virtual and in-person coaching conversations conducted by the talented coaches of BTS Coach, comes the first book to take BTS Coach's evidence-based coaching process to a mass audience. In a concise, easy-to-understand manner, the book reveals 4 mindsets (Be, Relate, Think, Inspire) that are most critical for individuals to experience deep, meaningful change, along with the process and tools for sparking their own powerful conversations to get the best out of themselves and those around them.

French cultural theorist and urbanist Paul Virilio is best known for his writings on media, technology, and architecture. Gathered here in A Winter's Journey are four remarkable conversations in which Virilio and architectural writer Marianne Brausch look at a twentieth century characterized by enormous technological acceleration and by technocultural accidents of barbarism and horror. The dialogues in A Winter's Journey--structured loosely around the dates 1940, 1950, 1960, and 1980--chart Virilio's intimate intellectual biography, from his childhood lived against the unstable backdrop of a heavily bombed, wartime Nantes to maturity in a crisis space that is neither entirely militarized nor yet fully civilian, but somewhere between the two. In the course of these conversations, Virilio and Brausch ultimately find hope that in understanding the events of the last century and the cultural responses spawned by them, we can create a more humane era that is more adept at handling the transformations of its technology and culture. A Winter's Journey is a revealing and engaging look into the intellectual life and ideas of one of the most influential theorists of contemporary civilization.