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Effective Communication



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Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together
William Isaacs (1999) 428pages

Too many of us have lost touch with the fire of conversation. When we talk together, it is rarely with depth. For the most part, we see our conversations as either opportunities to trade information or arenas in which to win points. Difficulties that might otherwise be resolved or even dissolved persist. And often we simply do not have the wherewithal to genuinely consider new possibilities, new options. Such miscommunication or misunderstanding condemns us to look elsewhere for the creative intensity that lies dormant within and between us. Yet it is an intensity that could revitalize our institutions, our relationships, and ourselves. In the end, this book is about rekindling that fire. - from the author's Introduction: The Fire of Conversation (Doubleday Currency)



Speaking, Listening, Understanding: The Art of Creating Conscious Conversation
Heinz Zimmermann (1991/1996)

Speaking, Listening, Understanding is a book about group conversations, especially those intended to arrive at decisions and/ or insights. Various types of conversations are described. in the process, we learn how individual participants, context, and mood can affect the overall process. Exercises, both group and individual, are provided for different kinds of conversations. Rather than the dynamics of group psychology, however, the author starts from the artistic aspects of conversation, namely, language and consciousness. Expanding our awareness of how to recognize when a conversation needs tightening, speeding up or slowing down, focusing or broadening, he shows how artistically and consciously playing these elements can lead one to become an active participant in successful group activity. (Lindisfarne)


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