Hard Conversations Without Damage

You already know how the talk will go badly, so you keep postponing it. This course gives you a way through it that protects the relationship instead of detonating it.

Most hard conversations stall because we walk in carrying a verdict and treat our story as fact. The other person feels accused, defends themselves, and the real issue never gets named. The Harvard Negotiation Project mapped why this happens: under every difficult exchange sit three conversations at once, about what happened, about feelings, and about identity. Miss them and you argue past each other for an hour.

This course teaches the method from "Difficult Conversations" by Stone, Patton, and Heen, the field guide that came out of that work. You separate the facts from the story you built around them, own your share of the mess before assigning blame, and open without an accusation so the other person stays in the room. When it heats up, you have concrete moves to keep it safe. You finish with a one-pager you fill in before any real conversation, so the skill survives past the lesson.

Who it's for

Managers: need to give hard feedback or address performance without the other person shutting down.

Founders and partners: have a co-founder, investor, or vendor issue that has been festering because no one will start it.

Anyone conflict-averse: avoids tension at work and at home, and wants a repeatable way to raise the thing that matters.