Editor's Note: This is a very difficult book to read for me. Yet I will read it at least two more times. I was raised in an atmosphere where it wasn’t always right to say what was on your mind and so I still maintain many techniques which get me around conversations instead of through them. This is especially true with those closest to me personally and in business. This book causes me to want to change. Scott’s basic themes are “a fierce conversation is one where we come out from behind ourselves into the conversation and make it real” and “the conversation is the relationship.”

Excerpt: “The phrases “don’t take this personally” and “don’t take yourself so seriously” are misguided suggestions. Do take it personally and do take yourself seriously. The opposite of “so what?” is to take it personally. Work is deeply personal. Leadership is intensely personal. Ultimately everything is personal, assuming you’ve addressed the question: “who am I?”