Kerry Patterson Books

When we talk about change, we often speak in generalities. We say, 'I want to be healthier,' or 'I need to manage my stress better.' But successful changers don’t attempt to overhaul everything. They identify what we call crucial behaviors—the specific, observable actions that have a disproportionat...

From Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success

Before you can change your behavior, you must understand what keeps you stuck. Too often, people misdiagnose their problem—they think they lack discipline, when in fact they’re trapped by hidden influences or counterproductive rewards. I encourage you to adopt the mindset of a behavioral scientist s...

From Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success

The first real step toward accountability begins not with speaking but with seeing. Most of us jump directly into conclusions—he’s lazy, she doesn’t care, they’re incompetent—without actually identifying the factual gap between what we expected and what occurred. The authors teach that accountabilit...

From Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior

Not every violated expectation warrants an accountability dialogue. One of the most liberating lessons in this book is learning that discretion strengthens credibility. We teach readers to ask: Is this issue significant enough to discuss? Will the outcome matter in terms of performance, trust, or re...

From Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior

Let’s begin by defining the moment when ordinary dialogue crosses into the territory of a crucial conversation. You know it intuitively: voices rise, hearts race, and the outcome suddenly matters. But to navigate wisely, you must be able to recognize these moments before they explode. A conversatio...

From Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

Now that you can recognize a crucial conversation, the core skill is mastering dialogue. Dialogue, as we define it, is the free flow of meaning between people. When dialogue flows, understanding deepens, decisions improve, and relationships strengthen. But when dialogue stalls — when people retreat ...

From Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High