The Art of Subtle Suggestion: How to Have Challenging, Difficult, and Uncomfortable Conversations at Work and... Everywhere Else, Too

Master the conversations most people avoid.

Difficult conversations are part of work, leadership, relationships, coaching, management, sales, parenting, and everyday life. The challenge is knowing how to say what needs to be said without creating defensiveness, confusion, resistance, or regret.

In The Art of Subtle Suggestion, Steven Nathenson, former FBI Special Agent, leadership and executive coach, speaker, and founder of Strive For More, shares a practical communication framework for having challenging, difficult, and uncomfortable conversations with more confidence, clarity, and care.

This is not a book about manipulation. It is a book about communicating with intention.

Drawing from his experience in the FBI, engineering, executive coaching, organizational development, and work with hundreds of individuals across 172+ companies and twenty countries, Nathenson teaches readers how to shape messages that are clear, constructive, human, and more likely to be received the way they are intended.

Inside, readers will learn how to:

Communicate in a way that lowers defensiveness and increases understanding

Choose words and phrases that make difficult conversations more productive

Recognize the hidden factors that shape how messages are sent, received, and interpreted

Use timing, tone, assertiveness, listening, coaching, and storytelling more effectively

Build confidence before walking into conversations they would normally avoid

Create communication that is effective, engaging, and collaborative

Use a practical blueprint for conversations at work and everywhere else, too

Whether you are a leader, manager, coach, advisor, HR professional, entrepreneur, parent, spouse, teammate, or someone who wants to communicate with greater confidence, this book gives you a clear path for saying hard things in a better way.

Words can damage trust, or they can build it.

The difference is often subtle.

The Art of Subtle Suggestion shows you how to make those subtleties count.