Each year, CrisMarie and I go through a visionary process that generally results in vision boards and goals. We’ve been doing that for 19 years and I would say that at least 15 of those vision boards included pictures of us publishing a book.
This past week, we accomplished that goal!
The Beauty of Conflict, Harnessing Your Teams’ Competitive Advantage - made its official debut on Amazon on October 31st. We found two boxes on our doorstep from Two Hummingbird Press with our own books on November 3!
It feels good to have made the book happen! I won’t say it was easy. It has been a journey.
Years ago, we thought we’d make it happen quickly. That didn’t happen. Instead, about 10 years ago, when we made our first serious attempt, we received some valuable feedback about our writing style. Unfortunately, the book idea was shelved and we turned our attention to writing shorter pieces and publishing blogs.
We turned our attention to doing our coaching and consulting work. We were fortunate enough to become part of The Table Group and worked closely with Pat Lencioni, a great speaker, and NY Times best-selling author. We learned a lot and expanded our client base and expertise.
Eventually though, we got restless and realized we wanted to focus on our sweet-spot—building strong relationships that can use the power and potential of conflict to get to extraordinary results.
We had been developing our own model, built on the shoulders of our work as faculty at the Haven Institute, founded by Ben Wong and Jock McKeen.
It seemed like a good time to get back on track with the book idea!
We started with the simple idea of pulling together our blogs and calling that good. Again, we got valuable feedback that we might want to dive a little deeper and make the book more of a blend of our different styles.
For me, Susan, my strength is in story-telling, using material directly from our clients and our experience to share how we work with differences. CrisMarie loves simple, practical how-to tools for personal and relationship transformation – that can be applied immediately.
The book started to come together over the last three years. We had lots of help along the way from writing editors like Kris McGuffie, Betsy Raporport, and Stacy Ennis, as well as pre-readers like Robin Kelson and Rachel Davey. We are now proud to say that our model reflects our passion and the amazing relational experiences we have been fortunate to have had with our clients.
Since we announced the book’s pre-order start date, we have received wonderful messages and posts from our clients, our friends and our family as they have ordered copies!
Now that the book is out, it’s been so fun to see when someone posts a picture of themselves with their new book at their home or office. It’s also been amazing to have some of our corporate clients making larger orders for their managers or leadership teams.
I love it when I get to hear from someone where it’s made a difference. One such story actually came from my mom and sister.
My mom hasn’t received her book yet, but she and my sister were watching the Facebook Live conversation we’d shared about why the book was important each of us. My mother had been dealing with some challenges in her care facility. She’d been upset because the elevator was out of service for 10 days (did I say she’s 89 and lives on the 4th floor of her building?), but didn’t want to rock the boat or cause any problems.
My sister reminded my mom that she’d heard CrisMarie talk about the importance of speaking up, and being vulnerable and clear when something isn’t working. Inspired, my mom went down and had the conversation with the facility manager. It went well and she came away feeling much better about speaking up. The elevator is now working and the staff appreciated her feedback.
Wow, I’m reminded of just how our book can impact someone personally!
Yes, the book is written for teams, yet the bulk of the book is about our relationship model which applies to any relationship, whether you’re a couple, or dealing with your in-laws, or relating to a co-worker.
I do hope you’ll read our book and have the courage and confidence to show up differently in places where conflict tends to create separation, misunderstanding, divisions, and suffering.
Plus, when you do purchase the Beauty of Conflict, you’ll get access to FREE Bonus Material, which includes your very own:
Opt-Out Style Assessment to determine how you opt-out in conflict so you can increase your influence
The Oh Sh*t! Kit, when you’re having an Oh Sh*t! moment:
your spouse is driving you nuts
your teammate is rubbing you the wrong way
you can’t find the words to express what you really feel
This kit will give you the tools to take care of yourself and express what fits you best!
If you do purchase a book, please let us know! Take a picture of you with your book and post on Facebook and tag each of us!
Take care,
Susan
CrisMarie Campbell and Susan Clarke
Coaches, Business Consultants, Speakers and Authors of The Beauty of Conflict
CrisMarie and Susan work leaders and teams, couples in business, and professional women.
They help turnaround dysfunctional teams into high performing, cohesive teams who trust each other, deal with differences directly, and have clarity and alignment on their business strategy so they create great results.
Check out their website: www.thriveinc.com. Connect with CrisMarie and Susan on LinkedIn. Watch their TEDx Talk: Conflict – Use It, Don’t Defuse It! Find your copy of The Beauty of Conflict: Harnessing Your Team's Competitive Advantage here.