Lifescripts: What to Say to Get What You Want in Life's Toughest Situations [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Stephen M. Pollan (Author), Mark Levine (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Excerpt from Lifescript #1: Asking for a Salary Increase

Icebreaker: I’d like to thank you for the opportunity you and the company have given me. I recognize that you’ve been very influential in my growth and advancement. However, I have a problem that I need your help with.

Pitch #1: What has happened is that I’ve been concentrating solely on my professional growth and haven’t been paying any attention to my stream of income . . .

Pitch #2: I think my salary no longer reflects my contribution to the company . . .

Pitch #3: I think my salary no longer matches my job responsibilities . . .

Whether you need to ask your boss to stop micromanaging, terminate a subordinate, confront a peer, or cold call a potential client, Lifescripts gives you the most effective approach–and the actual words–to use.

The bestselling guide to self-improvement and success, Lifescripts has been completely revised and updated, taking a sharp self-help focus and adding more than 50 scripts that help you prepare for difficult conversations both inside and outside the office. Each of the 109 Lifescripts gives you a plan that leads to the desired result regardless of the obstacles thrown in your path. You get an icebreaker opener, a pitch, an answer to every question, and a defense for every attack. You’ll also find strategic pointers on attitude, timing, preparation, and behavior.

From dealing with human resources to confronting a backstabber to closing a deal, Lifescripts provides a road map to navigate successfully through the most perplexing, problematic dialogues you may face in the course of your life. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

For over thirty-five years, attorney and financial consultant Stephen M. Pollan has been offering pragmatic career, financial, business, and legal advice to individuals and businesses. He was CNBCs on-air personal finance expert for five years, is a frequent guest on The Today Show and Good Morning America, and contributes regularly to Worth, Working Woman, New York, Money, and U.S. News & World Report magazines. He and Mark Levine have co-authored many books on business and personal finance.

Product Details

• Paperback: 477 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764567349
• ISBN-13: 978-0764567346
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #967,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Direction When You Don't Know What To Say, December 28, 2007

By 

James T. Meadows (Kansas City, Missouri) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lifescripts: What to Say to Get What You Want in Life's Toughest Situations (Paperback)

Pollan and Levine have done an outstanding job assembling a wide variety of human relations challenges and dilemmas. My first action in assessing the book was to go directly to those scenarios in which I have had considerable training and experience. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the verbiage and the decision charts were spot on. One of the book's strengths is that each scenario is properly framed. The reader is fully educated on strategy and key concerns for handling the situation. The accompanying decision chart then becomes the road map for the situation. The ideal reader of this book is the new college graduate entering into his or her first professional position. There is simply a tremendous quantity of practical wisdom on human relations and office politics that I wish I had at that stage in my career. Additionally, the book is an excellent resource for the seasoned professional. It will reinforce and fine-tune many approaches already in use. Because it is relatively thorough, it will provide juicy tidbits and insights on some situations that perhaps the reader simply never identified. I highly recommend this excellent book for anyone concerned with ongoing professional and personal success.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference, January 22, 2007

By 

Angela Mincher (Rocky Mount, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lifescripts: What to Say to Get What You Want in Life's Toughest Situations (Paperback)

Everyone is faced with tough conversations at work and this book provides practical guides for dealing with bosses, peers, and subordinates. I see where these scripts can easily be adapted to personal conversations as well. The book is organized in a very readable format. Not only are the topics easy to find, but the twists and turns of a specific dialog are diagramed so you can follow the path to the desired outcome. It even gives tips on timing. I especially liked that several strategies were described to combat different types of emotional responses that may be encountered. Most books I've read give general advice on handling difficult verbal situations, but this book gives word for word scripts that can actually be used in the real world. It's like gaining the insight of someone else's experience.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to Prep For Those Meetings You'd Rather Skip, September 11, 2010

By 

John M. Ford "johnDC" (near DC, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lifescripts: What to Say to Get What You Want in Life's Toughest Situations (Kindle Edition)

Stephen Pollan believes that life's unpleasant discussions go better when you walk in with a plan. His experience coaching and advising his clients tells him these plans need to be both flexible and easy to remember. He has invented conversation outlines--"lifescripts"--to prep us for common confrontations and help us come out ahead.

The book contains 101 lifescripts, each presented with similar supporting information and in a common format. "Each lifescript begins with a general discussion of the overall strategy you should use...highlighting what your goal should be." Pollan also suggests what attitude you should adopt, the preparation you need, how to choose a time for the discussion, appropriate body language to use, in addition to the lifescript itself. The lifescripts are presented in flowchart form, each containing icebreakers, pitches, possible responses from the other person, counters to their responses, and so on. There are also suggestions for adapting the lifescript to slightly different situations and "crib notes" to aid memory of the key points.

The 101 lifescripts are drawn from areas of everyday life: Job Hunting, Dealing with Superiors and Subordinates, Office Politics, Job Terminations, Dealing with Customers, Lenders, Investors, Vendors and Partners, Sales, Consumer, Credit and Lending Issues, and Communicating with family Members. Just in case we cannot find or adapt an existing lifescript to our particular needs, Pollan teaches us the five organizing principles of lifescripts: 1) Take control of the situation; 2) Say what you want; 3) Show your power before you use it; 4) Absorb or deflect anger; and 5) Have the last word.

The lifescript approach seems useful to anyone who wants to think through their strategy and options before beginning a difficult conversation. It seems particularly useful for those who prefer--or must--rely on conscious tactics in social interactions rather than intuition. It can help those who are not socially skilled become less fearful and more effective in the conversations that count.