Necessary Endings - by Henry Cloud (Hardcover)

About the Book

From the bestselling author of "Integrity" comes a mindset-shifting book that challenges Christians to proactively prune the bad and the broken in their lives to create space for personal and professional growth.

Book Synopsis

"If you're hesitant to pull the trigger when things obviously aren't working out, Henry Cloud's Necessary Endings may be the most important book you read all year." --Dave Ramsey, New York Times bestselling author of The Total Money Makeover

"Cloud is a wise, experienced, and compassionate guide through [life's] turbulent passages." --Bob Buford, bestelling author of Halftime and Finishing Well; founder of the Leadership Network

Henry Cloud, the bestselling author of Integrity and The One-Life Solution, offers this mindset-altering method for proactively correcting the bad and the broken in our businesses and our lives. For anyone getting unstuck, Cloud challenges readers to achieve the personal and professional growth they both desire and deserve--and gives crucial insight on the art of decision making and how to make those tough decisions that are standing in the way of a more successful business and, ultimately, a better life.

How do you finally end what isn't working to make room for what will?

• Pruning for Growth: Learn why, like a rosebush, your personal and professional life requires cutting away good, sick, and even dead branches to achieve its full potential.
• Discerning What to Fix: Distinguish between a situation that has real hope and one that is a hopeless drain on your resources, and know when it's time to move on.
• Overcoming Resistance: Identify the internal and external barriers that keep you from acting, and develop the urgency needed to make bold, timely changes.
• Ending Things Well: Master the difficult conversations required to bring relationships, projects, and business initiatives to a close with clarity and compassion.

From the Back Cover

End Pain.

Foster Personal and Professional Growth.

Live Better.

While endings are a natural part of business and life, we often experience them with a sense of hesitation, sadness, resignation, or regret. But consultant, psychologist, and bestselling author Dr. Henry Cloud sees endings differently. He argues that our personal and professional lives can only improve to the degree that we can see endings as a necessary and strategic step to something better. If we cannot see endings in a positive light and execute them well, he asserts, the "better" will never come either in business growth or our personal lives.

In this insightful and deeply empathetic book, Dr. Cloud demonstrates that, when executed well, "necessary endings" allow us to proactively correct the bad and the broken in our lives in order to make room for the professional and personal growth we seek. However, when endings are avoided or handled poorly--as is too often the case--good opportunities may be lost, and misery repeated. Drawing on years of experience as an executive coach and a psychologist, Dr. Cloud offers a mixture of advice and case studies to help readers

• know when to have realistic hope and when to execute a necessary ending in a business, or with an individual;
• identify which employees, projects, activities, and relationships are worth nurturing and which are not;
• overcome people's resistance to change and create change that works;
• create urgency and an action plan for what's important;
• stop wasting resources needed for the things that really matter.

Knowing when and how to let go when something, or someone, isn't working--a personal relationship, a job, or a business venture--is essential for happiness and success. Necessary Endings gives readers the tools they need to say good-bye and move on.

Review Quotes

"Through specific strategies for ending things well, Cloud advocates for powerful personal changes...and will give many readers the fresh start they crave." - Publishers Weekly

"A couple of years ago, I had a revelation about my company: We took way too long to kill a bad idea. We let under-performing projects drift for months or even years before we cut our losses and ended the deal. Flipping that one little switch totally changed our perspective on new projects, and it's saved us a ton of time and trouble. If you're hesitant to pull the trigger when things obviously aren't working out, Necessary Endings may be the most important book you read all year." - Dave Ramsey, New York Times bestselling author of The Total Money Makeover

"Much of what we do each day is an unnecessary waste of time and energy. This book will challenge you put a stop to things that have been getting in your way for a long time." - Tom Rath, bestselling author of Strengths-Based Leadership

"Having written five books about the seasons of life, I can tell you that necessary endings are the hard part. Henry Cloud is a wise, experienced, and compassionate guide through these turbulent passages." - Bob Buford, bestelling author of Halftime and Finishing Well; founder, Leadership Network

"If you're hesitant to pull the trigger when things obviously aren't working out, Henry Cloud's Necessary Endings may be the most important book you read all year." - Dave Ramsey, New York Times bestselling author of The Total Money Makeover