Conflict Resilience - by Robert Bordone & Joel Salinas (Hardcover)

About the Book

Two Harvard professors introduce the concept zconflict resilience,y a framework that combines neuroscience and conflict management skills to help individuals navigate disagreements more effectively, fostering deeper relationships and more productive outcome

Book Synopsis

AN INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Conflict management expert Robert C. Bordone and leading behavioral neurologist Joel Salinas, M.D., join forces to introduce conflict resilience: the radical science of standing strong in the face of conflict and breaking the bad habits that sabotage our politics, workplaces, and most important relationships.

Conflict is getting the better of us.

From our homes and community centers to C-Suites and Congress, disagreements are happening everywhere, with increasing frequency, and are being treated like winner-takes-all debates rather than as opportunities for conversation and positive change. This puts a tremendous and untenable strain on our most important relationships and institutions.

Unable or unwilling to handle conflict with skill, we ignore it or avoid it for as long as possible; when we are forced to face it, everyday disagreements and temporary flare-ups rapidly escalate to a fever pitch. Neither approach addresses underlying issues, promotes stronger relationships, or yields satisfying results.

But there is a solution: a combined skill- and mindset that Bordone calls conflict resilience: the ability to not only sit with and grow from disagreement, but to find new ways to communicate with authority and confidence without others feeling left unheard. In this powerful, hopeful book, Bordone, an internationally-recognized negotiator, former professor, and Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School, and Joel Salinas, M.D., a cutting-edge scientist from Harvard Medical School, combine the inner mechanics of conflict--literally what's going on in our bodies and our brains during moments of distress--to produce a groundbreaking guide for how to navigate it, including:

How to get out of your own way as a communicatorUnderstanding the importance of timingHow to embrace disagreement as an advantageLearning how to anticipate and manage defensivenessAnd more!

Conflict Resilience provides scientifically proven tools to help you drive agreement when possible, and empower you, when agreement is impossible, to strengthen your ability to speak in conflict and withstand the stress of doing so.

In these polarized times, when consensus, agreement, and problem-solving often feel elusive or even downright pointless, conflict resilience becomes the key to move forward. This book serves as a guidebook to bring people together, and an invitation to radically transform how we interact with our friends and families, our coworkers, our students, and our neighbors.

Review Quotes

"Conflict Resilience offers a powerful, practical recipe for true dialogue between people with opposing views. Robert Bordone and Joel Salinas have written exactly the book needed in our time."
- Daniel Goleman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence
"Every leader--from the halls of Congress, to C-Suites, to university administrators and local officials--should read this book. With its practical advice on how to constructively disagree, hold your ground, and still get things done in an increasingly polarized world, Conflict Resilience is simply the best book I know on how to respectfully talk about policy differences and find constructive ways to work together." - Adam Kinzinger, former U.S. Congressman (R) and New York Times bestselling author of Renegade: Defending Democracy & Liberty In Our Divided Country
"Conflict Resilience is a masterful, in-depth account of everyday conflict in which the authors share their original tools for finding greater connection amidst substantial disagreement. Knowing how to sit with uncertainty, find ease, and reach for the other side will be some of the most sought-after skills in the coming century, and Bordone and Salinas have delivered a grand gift in the form of their new book." - Jenara Nerenberg, journalist and bestselling author of Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You
"If you are fearful, or even just hesitant, to engage in the difficult conflicts in your personal or professional life, Conflict Resilience is for you. Full of penetrating analysis, practical hacks, and illuminating stories, and buttressed by relevant and accessible insights from neuroscience, the authors provide a roadmap through emotions that block our capacity 'to genuinely sit with and grow from conflict.' Conflict Resilience invites us into the humble yet hopeful work of learning to hold even deep disagreement." - Dr. Amy Uelmen, Director for Mission & Ministry, Georgetown University Law Center
"[A] rare gift: a practical and entertaining book with compelling lessons for entrepreneurs, CEOs, and business leaders, as well as educators, students, and parents. Replete with vivid examples, supported by the latest brain science, and full of easy-to-implement hacks, it provides a brilliant roadmap for working through our disagreements in ways that help promote connection and creative problem-solving." - Rob Waldron, Chairman, Curriculum Associates
"Bordone and Salinas begin Conflict Resilience with an important but overlooked truth: Conflict is not the problem--we are. Accepting that truth means reckoning with the deeper, internal work that is too often brushed aside in favor of quick fixes. Thankfully, the authors offer powerful and practical methods for building our capacity to not only handle but embrace the messy (and essential) work of conflict. This book is essential reading for anyone who faces friction at work or in life--that is, all of us!" - Jeff Wetzler, author of Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You
"Bob Bordone and Joel Salinas are uniquely qualified to give valuable insight into the conflict that exists in everyday life. Conflict Resilience is a great read that will add depth to your thinking and practical strategies for your acting to navigate conflicts big and small." - Chris Voss, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended On It