As the CEO of a successful multinational company she built from the ground up, Ruth has been given aggressive and ambitious goals by her board to prepare the company for sale. However, her team cannot seem to rise to the challenge. They continue to underperform at every step, making the board's ambitious targets feel more and more like a pipe dream. As she stares at her packed calendar, she wonders how she's going to get everyone to pull together and deliver the results she's promised.
 
In Difficult Conversations Don't Have to be Difficult: A Simple, Smart Way to Make Your Relationships and Team Better, 15-time bestselling author Jon Gordon and renowned executive coach and human resources executive Amy P. Kelly deliver a fresh and innovative new approach to individual and team development. In the book, you'll learn how you can plan, structure, and have the tough conversations that every leader needs to have with their team members to achieve extraordinary results.
 
Written as a business fable, this book is an engaging story about one person's quest to unlock high levels of productivity from a dysfunctional team. It explains why the difficult conversations that your team has been avoiding are also the critically important ones that need to occur before real growth can be achieved.
 
Perfect for managers, executives, directors, and other business leaders, Difficult Conversations Don't Have to be Difficult is also a must-read story for coaches, consultants, trainers, human resource professionals, and anyone who aims to unlock the potential of the people they work with.

JON GORDON is a 15-time bestselling author, thought leader, and one of the most sought after leadership speakers and consultants who has worked with many of the best leaders and organizations on the planet. He believes that positivity is a competitive advantage and is the author of 30 books, including The Energy Bus, The Carpenter, The Power of Positive Leadership and The Power of a Positive Team.
 
Visit him at JonGordon.com
 
AMY P. KELLY is the Vice President of Consulting for The Jon Gordon Companies and a Global Facilitator for The Association for Talent Development in the areas of Change Management, Improving Human Performance, and Consulting Skills. She is co-author of The Energy Bus Field Guide and the author of G.L.U.E.: A Leadership Development Strategy to Bond and Unite. In her career as a human resources executive, Amy built award-winning employment brands and corporate university programs. She is dedicated to helping executives and their teams grow.

Acknowledgments ix
 
Introduction xi
 
1 Turmoil 1
 
2 Transparency 11
 
3 Truth 17
 
4 Tiles of Talent: Embracing Hybrid Team Trust 31
 
5 Trust 47
 
6 Time to Transform 69
 
7 Team 73
 
8 Application of the STAR 3 Model 81
 
Difficult Conversations Don't Have to be Difficult Resources 87
 
About the Authors 89
 
Other Books by Jon Gordon 91