What world-class communicators do differently: 3 lessons from neuroscience

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You’ve probably met a fair share of crazy people at work. The constant whiner, the chronically negative employee, the bickering team members, the client who seems to take special pleasure in making your life miserable. When you talk to these people, there’s just no getting through; it feels like hitting a brick wall, again and again. No amount of logic, reasoning, persuasion, bribes and bargains, threats and pressure, nothing seems to work. So what do you do?

In his bestselling book Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone, Dr. Mark Goulston describes this situation as a hostage crisis.

“You can’t get free”, he says. “You’re trapped by another person’s resistance, fear, hostility, apathy, stubbornness, self-centeredness, or neediness — and by your own inability to take effective action.”