Susan Scott · printable PDF
Fierce Conversations cheat sheet
Scott's point is simple: your company grows or stagnates one conversation at a time. This sheet is the opening I use when the fake conversation has gone on long enough.
Notes by Toby Sinclair. Pair with the full Fierce Conversations summary.
What's on the sheet
- 01 Name the issueSay the actual topic in the first minute. No warm-up tour of last quarter.
- 02 A specific examplePick one moment that shows the pattern. Abstract complaints invite abstract defence.
- 03 Your emotion, then the stakeName how it lands on you, then what it costs the work if this continues.
- 04 Own your contributionSay the part you played before you ask them to change.
- 05 Invite a response, then waitAsk them in. Let silence do the heavy lifting.
- 06 Interrogate realityNo plan survives contact with what is actually happening. Ask who has the best vantage point, not the most seniority.
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Practice, not theory
You've just read how to have the conversation. Reading isn't practising.
Fierce Conversations is a playbook. Real Talk Studio is the driving test — try the same conversation against an AI counterpart before it happens for real.