Jeanne Phillips Quotes

I knew that part of the problem with sensitive issues is that, because they're uncomfortable to address, we have a hard time doing so honestly, if at all.

I've spent my life navigating through sensitive issues. Not wanting to upset people.

Families in real life don't tend to resolve things neatly.

I've met so many leaders who realize that telling your colleagues something that is on your mind is so much easier than keeping it in. Sometimes the things we make up in our heads are not nearly as big a deal as we think.

On sensitive issues, talk isn't cheap - it takes real courage to pry open topics nailed shut.

I really do feel like the work and time we spend avoiding having difficult conversations is so much more wasteful and painful and time-consuming than actually having the difficult conversation.

Companies make a big point of how their culture is all about 'bad news first,' but when it comes to people, they are suddenly scared to communicate bad news out of some mistaken feeling of politeness or political correctness.

We don't live in a shared reality, we each live in a reality of our own, and causing upset is often the price of trying to reach each other. It's always easier to dismiss other people than to go through the awkward and time consuming process of understanding them. We have given 'taking offense' a social status it doesn't deserve: it's not much more than a way of avoiding difficult conversations.

There may be no single thing more important in our efforts to achieve meaningful work and fulfilling relationships than to learn to practice the art of communication.

Some women feel power is important, some women feel that looks are important, tenderness, intelligence...but sense of humor seems to permeate all of them.

A woman wouldn't make a bomb that kills you. A woman would make a bomb that makes you feel bad for a while. That's why there should be a woman President. There'd never be any wars, just every twenty-eight days there'd be very intense negotiations.

To me, the most important thing was to treat people the way you want to be treated. Some people say that I'm a mean person. Well, you know what? The person that's saying that is probably a dipshit and I put them in their place! I have a knack for doing that.

...people have character strength but they lack communication skills, and that undoubtedly affects the quality of relationships as well.

Sometimes listening itself may not be enough-some people must be prodded if you are to find out what they're thinking.

The key is to put your outrage in a place where you can get it when you need to, but not have it bubble up so much, especially when you're asked to explain new ideas or explain what you observed two people who share none of your experiences.

No one cares to speak to an unwilling listener. An arrow never lodges in a stone: often it recoils upon the shooter of it.

One of the most important rules for me is: Don't ever defend myself. If we could put this one principle into practice, how much more simple life would be.

There is nothing harder, at moments, than talking to someone who has all the power of silence.

You make real progress when somebody is honest enough to say something that's really uncomfortable. Of course when you're a candidate's wife and when you're first lady and the first African-American first lady to boot, that is very, very hard to do.

... the approach of admitting our errors, besides being most true to a gospel of grace, is also most effective at expressing who we are. Propaganda turns people off; humbly admitting mistakes disarms.

The void created by the failure to communicate is soon filled with poison, drivel and misrepresentation.

It is not nearly so important how well a message is received as how well it is sent. You cannot take responsibility for how well another accepts your truth; you can only ensure how well it is communicated. And by how well, I don't mean merely how clearly; I mean how lovingly, how compassionately, how sensitively, how courageously, and how completely.

If you're unhappy with another person's behavior, pray about it and be honest and open in dealing with it in the right kind of way.

A sense of humor is an important thing to have because when you get into an argument, one of the best ways to diffuse it is to be funny.

If someone is difficult to talk to, if someone cannot communicate clearly, it's a real problem in terms of their likelihood to work out.