Holding the Calm: The Secret to Resolving Conflict and Defusing Tension

by Hesha Abrams

Holding the Calm is a practical and immediately useful guide that meticulously lays out twenty concrete, easy-to-use tools for defusing tension, settling cases, resolving disputes, and rechanneling arguments.

How do you stop conflict? Settle disputes? Handle someone who is yelling at you, crying, or just won't speak? How do you find a solution when a solution seems impossible? Holding the Calm shares the secrets that enable everyone to avoid, minimize, or resolve conflict.

Popular master mediator Hesha Abrams has tens of thousands of hours in the trenches mediating human conflict, and she shares her pragmatic wisdom in digestible bites that detail how to improve situations and solve difficult problems between human beings, from family and workplace disputes to complex commercial and global conflicts. Learn how to


Practical, inspirational, and full of accessible tools you can use right now, Holding the Calm proves that you don’t need an advanced degree or certification to minimize challenges and defuse tension between real people, businesses, and countries.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

Published July 26, 2022

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a book on theory. Hesha Abrams is a boots on the ground mediator focused on what works in the trenches of negotiation warfare. Through decades of experience of trial-by-fire, Hesha has discovered the secrets to dissolve egos, assuage big personalities, and loosen up those dug in heels. Holding the Calm shares those lessons in easy to read, bite-sized chunks. I've highlighted my copy up and down, and will keep it near, for the next time I need to unstick a sticky situation. I want a copy for everyone on my team!

[Spine Dining · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written to a formula. Your average self-help book style. The constant refrain "hold your calm" grates and irritates. Run of the mill advice. Nothing new and totally useless. Gained nothing, wasted my time (including writing this). Time to get rid of it and pick something better to make up for the loss. Abandoning at 70% of the listen

[Tim Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book “holding the calm – the secret of resolving conflict and defusing tension”, while it is a business book, Hesha writes it in a way that makes the subject come alive. The book is about resolving conflict and defusing tension”. In the book she shares her secrets of how to read a situation to solve problems, eliminate conflict, and restore harmony.

But she also shares her experiences and case studies where she is resolving matters that are complex, political, emotional, sensitive to difficult personalities and with coming up with solutions when resolution seems intractable or unsolvable. Many of the stories are funny, like the two business leaders that couldn’t agree on a company acquisition, one wanted $35 million and the other wouldn’t pay more than $30 million and she got them to settle.

[Darya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unusual book that can help to settle a conflict situation or a book about a job of a mediator. I found several useful tools and questions to use, enjoyed the stories that supported the book pages along. If found it a bit unusual from the point of negotiations and believe the techniques can be also applied there. The book is very good for anyone interested in communication and negotiations because many suggestions can be applied in personal life too.

[Matt Root · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars for me. (Rounding up) There is some very good, solid content here, but I would have appreciated it had it had a bit more structure, with a greater focus on how tos and fewer example stories. It’s good, but I’d recommend it as part of a Suite of resources rather than it being the go-to guide. The author clearly knows what she’s talking about and is well-positioned to write a book like this.

[Matt Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rx. Antidote for systemic hatred, antagonism, and protracted disagreements

Hesha Abrams provides the balm to navigate antagonistic relationships, whether personal, institutional, legal, and international.
Her book “Hold the Calm” can help us all to “love our neighbor as ourselves” to bring us to a state of reciprocal understanding, appreciation,and cooperation.
She has given a great gift to humankind.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good stuff in here, but it feels hastily put together. Ideas aren’t fully explained, concepts aren’t defined, lots of mixed metaphors, and many blank pages layered between the chapters to help hide how short it is. I wish an editor had spent time working with her to flesh it out to make it even more valuable.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly a collection of anecdotes and cliches. Not what I needed. I was looking for something that would help face conflict, even seek it out to deal with it. I have to think there is more science and psychology to this are that could be applied and help.
I listened to the audiobook and got about 60% through before I quit

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up from my library and I found it boring and not informative at all. The author just repeats the phrase ‘holding the calm’ with a bunch of examples and never explains how to actually do it. The “techniques” the author describes are shallowly described at best and I felt like I didn’t learn anything.

[Sarah Boyette · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid book. Good advice that I will practice. However, the author uses the name of the book in almost every other sentence, which became distracting

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hesha explains her performance-based strategies in Holding the Calm in a very easy to understand and easy to apply way. Hesha’s techniques provide a special awareness of people that help lead to successful results. Her strategies work in big business, high stakes situations and can be applied during family arguments and even explained to children to help them resolve their own arguments with other children.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snippet from my review: "But don't think that you need to be a CEO or lawyer to use the "hold the calm" method. As Abrams states in her book, this is for anyone who needs to defuse tension, resolve disputes, and rechannel arguments. "Hold the calm" in the workplace or at home, with employees, volunteers, neighbors, and adult children."

Read the full review here: https://cookscrapcraft.blogspot.com/2...