Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone - Softcover

"Backed by the latest scientific research, simple but powerful techniques that can turn frustration and anger into engagement are explained." -HR magazine (Hong Kong) "Readers learn how to listen effectively, shift an angry or aggressive person into a calmer, more receptive state, and use empathy jolts to bridge a communication gap." --Idealist Careers ..".filled with great questions that will absolutely 'Increase Your Leadership Effectiveness X10!' This is a must buy book for every leader and every coach! --Bob Tiede, Leading with Questions blog ..".ranks as one of my all-time favorite books and is, in my humble opinion, the BEST book written on this very important topic." --Linkedin "Once in a while a book comes along that makes us slow down, become introspective and thus, learn and transform...Such a book is Just Listen." --Parking Today ..".provides numerous insights and tips for impactful listening written in an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable manner." --Daily Times ..".useful insights into opening anyone up--a recalcitrant vendor, a desirable prospect, a client dragging ass....Goulston's words gave me sizable goosebumps." --Forbes.com "Hell, Sartre pointed out, is other people, but it turns out that there are ways to make them less devilish...trick is to learn to really listen in the way described by this book." --Accounting Today ..".offers nine core rules for reaching anyone, from Beelzebub down to the lowliest staffer, as well as a host of easy-to-use tools, concrete action steps, and illuminating examples." --Accounting Today "Goulston helps the reader to learn how to get through to anyone." --Business Now Magazine "We're all held captive when someone refuses to communicate. [Goulston's] 12 easy tools to achieve buy-in and seven fast fixes for challenging situations are particularly helpful for everyday use." --Working Strategies "Just Listen is an excellent guide for learning how to break down barriers." --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Just Listen is not only helpful for any kind of business, it teaches a skill that will aid you outside of the office too." --Niche Magazine "A primer on dealing with hard-to-reach people in virtually every scenario -- defiant executives, angry employees, families in turmoil, warring couples -- through use of well-honed psychological techniques. Illustrative snippets from counseling session reveal martial-arts like techniques: potent on their own, but even more powerful when you combine them. Chapter summaries feature action steps preparing readers to encounter similar scenarios, yielding a guide that is as entertaining as it is useful." --CareerBuilder.com "Just Listen is a banquet of approaches and ideas that's easy to devour the first time around, and a flavorful feast whenever you use portions as a reference book. It's certainly one of the best how-to books of the year." --Inland Empire Business Journal "useful and applicable techniques and strategies for everything from getting teams to work together, to handling narcissistic clients (or is that a redundancy?), and getting your message across to even the most impenetrable people" --Accounting Today "It's a measure of how contentious work relationships can get that the author, a psychiatrist, draws on hostage-negotiation techniques to instruct readers on how to deal with 'defiant executives, angry employees or self-destructing management teams'.... Mission accomplished." --Time Magazine "[Mark Goulston] understands communication, and he understands people...Who would benefit from reading Just Listen? I can't think of anyone who wouldn't." --The Chronicle Herald "We all have difficult and unpleasant conversations throughout our lives...Mark gives us the key to not only making these conversations smoother, but help you communicate on a deeper level." --Optimized Geek "Who would benefit from reading Just Listen? I can't think of anyone who wouldn't --customer service staff, managers, salespeople, parents, you name it..." --The Chronicle Herald "The most useful (five-star) book on communicating... Everyone can be a better communicator with the right knowledge, and this book makes learning interesting and easy." --Lindsey Novak, nationally syndicated "At Work" columnist "an impressive bag of tricks... a guide that is as entertaining as it is useful" --Publishers Weekly [starred review] "Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist, business consultant, and FBI hostage-negotiation trainer, Goulston provides brilliant yet doable techniques for getting through to others... This book transcends the self-help category by promoting real communication." --Library Journal

Do you ever feel like you’re talking to a brick wall?

The first step in persuading anyone to do anything is getting them to hear you out. But whether the person is a cynical colleague, furious customer, or overwhelmed spouse, their emotional barriers may be blocking your message. And if you can’t break through, you can’t move forward.

Just Listen has helped tens of thousands of people tear down walls and establish productive communication. In this landmark book, veteran psychiatrist and business coach Mark Goulston reveals simple, proven techniques for moving people from resistance to consensus, explaining how to:

• Listen effectively
• Make even a total stranger - perhaps a potential client - feel “felt”
• Shift an angry or aggressive person into a calmer, more receptive state
• Use empathy jolts to quickly bridge communication gaps
• Turn negative people into assets using the “Magic Paradox”
• Achieve buy-in, the linchpin of all negotiation, persuasion, and sales

Barricades between people become barriers to success and happiness, so getting through is not just a fine art - it’s a crucial skill. With Just Listen, readers learn how to transform the “impossible” and “unreachable” people in their lives into true allies, loyal customers, and lifelong friends.