When the relationships go awry, a good place to start is to consider what is going on for you personally.

we are all equipped with two personal antennae. One looks outward and picks up signals of what is going on for the other person. The other one looks inward and registers what is going on for you.

a Vocabulary of Feelings, which turns out to be a tool that students use for decades after graduation.

Understanding what you are feeling more fully expands your choices and lessens the chances of being thoughtlessly reactive.

Interpersonal issues can arise from multiple sources. For example, one of you might perceive a significant power differential has come to exist that now complicates decision-making processes.

The dilemma is then how to raise them without causing more animosity and disrupting the company. And of course, if you don’t raise them, you can’t move toward resolving them.

you have only your perspective, and they are probably experiencing some version of what you are too.

The more curious we can each be about the other’s feelings, the more productive and generative our conversations are likely to be.

It may be useful to think about the process of generating a solution as answering three questions simultaneously: “What do I need?”, “What do you/others need?” and “What is best for the organization?” Curiosity—real curiosity—lowers defensiveness and builds relationships.

the interpersonal, or so-called soft skills, are often the greatest determinants of professional success, and they are also often the hardest.

people do business with people, as much as if not more than they do with ideas, products, strategies, plans, or even money. Being an entrepreneur and a co-founder is challenging enough without having developed the interpersonal skills and competencies needed to navigate the journey!