A couple years back, I read through a great book that had a lot of application for my job as a change management advisor. Crucial Conversations is a book about how to better deal with high stakes conversations where opinions differ and emotions run high. I was also able to take a training course and still use the information in my job, as well as more generally in important conversations.
The authors of the book put out a regular newsletter/blog, and I thought the last one was particularly good. In summary:
She then taught me something I have never forgotten. “Before I spoke with him I asked myself, ‘In what way am I just like him?’ It didn’t take long before I thought of a couple of ways that I had behaved inappropriately when I thought I could get away with it. As soon as I accepted that I was kind of like him, I felt more forgiving of his weakness. I wasn’t going to put up with it, but at least I could see that he was a human not a villain—a human kind of like me.”
I was blown away by this idea. And I have found that, when I embrace it, I find an increased capacity to love the imperfect people in my life.
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