Communication is a beautiful dance when two individuals reach out to each other with a shared sense of honesty, authenticity, and self-esteem. But life is complicated, your friends make unfair requests, family members know all the right buttons to push, and saying “no” or “stop that” can be very difficult. Here’s the book to help you recognize that your behavior may be partly to blame for the problems. Mary Sutherland devoted her thirty-year career to improving relationships—personal and professional—in northern Michigan. In hundreds of speeches and thousands of counseling sessions, she taught the skills of successful communication: be real, be confident, be firm, be consistent, and be kind.