How to Deal With Difficult People:Smart Tactics for Overcoming the Problem People in Your Life

Whether it’s a manager who keeps moving the goal posts, an uncooperative colleague, negative friend, or critical family member, some people are just plain hard to get along with. Often, your immediate response is to shrink or sulk, become defensive or attack. This summary explains how to cope with a range of situations with difficult people and to focus on what you can change.

Whether it’s a manager who keeps moving the goal posts, an uncooperative colleague, negative friend, or critical family member, some people are just plain hard to get along with. Often, your immediate response is to shrink or sulk, become defensive or attack.

But there are smarter moves to make when dealing with difficult people.

Our summary of How to Deal With Difficult People, by Gill Hasson, explains how to cope with a range of situations with difficult people and to focus on what you can change.

Hasson is a teacher, trainer, and writer, with 20 years’ experience in personal development. Her expertise is in the areas of confidence and self-esteem, communication skills, assertiveness, and resilience.

This summary will help you to:

• Understand what makes difficult people tick and how best to handle them;
• Learn ways to confidently stand up to others and resist the urge to attack back;
• Develop strategies to calmly navigate emotionally-charged situations;
• Deal with all kinds of difficult people – hostile, manipulative and the impossible; and,

Know when to choose your battles, and when to walk away.