Eamon
Blackthorn
Eamon Blackthorn is a communication skills expert and author of the best-selling book SAY IT RIGHT EVERY TIME.
About Eamon
Books by Eamon Blackthorn
Articles by Eamon Blackthorn
Patient Hearing Starter Guide: A Simple 7-Day Practice Plan for Building Your First Patient Hearing Habits With Difficult People
Patient Hearing Starter Guide: A Simple 7-Day Practice Plan for Building Your First Patient Hearing Habits With Difficult People
Patient hearing is one of the hardest communication skills to build, especially with difficult people. This guide gives you a clear 7-day practice plan, a daily checklist, and specific techniques for developing the listening habits that actually change how hard conversations go.
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Patient Hearing Examples: Word-for-Word Transcripts of What Patient Hearing Looks and Sounds Like With Difficult People in Real Conversations
Patient Hearing Examples: Word-for-Word Transcripts of What Patient Hearing Looks and Sounds Like With Difficult People in Real Conversations
Patient hearing is one of the most misunderstood skills in difficult conversations. This article shows you exactly what it looks and sounds like through five realistic scenarios, including one where it goes wrong, so you can recognise it, practise it, and apply it yourself.
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How to Return to Patient Hearing Mode After You Have Already Reacted Badly in the Same Conversation
How to Return to Patient Hearing Mode After You Have Already Reacted Badly in the Same Conversation
Reacting badly in a conversation doesn't mean the conversation is over. This article gives you a clear, step-by-step process to reset your listening, repair the moment, and return to patient hearing without abandoning the conversation entirely.
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Patient Hearing Mistakes That Signal Weakness Instead of Strength to Difficult People
Patient Hearing Mistakes That Signal Weakness Instead of Strength to Difficult People
Patient hearing is a powerful tool with difficult people, but common mistakes can make it look like weakness instead of strength. This article identifies six specific errors, explains why they happen, and gives you a clear first move toward fixing each one before the damage sets in.
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How to Maintain Patient Hearing When a Difficult Person Uses Pauses to Pull You Into Arguing
How to Maintain Patient Hearing When a Difficult Person Uses Pauses to Pull You Into Arguing
When a difficult person uses silence as a weapon, most people fill the gap and hand over control of the conversation. This article gives you a clear, practical process for maintaining patient hearing so you stay grounded, clear, and impossible to bait.
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Why Difficult People Often Escalate When You Give Them Patient Hearing for the First Time
Why Difficult People Often Escalate When You Give Them Patient Hearing for the First Time
When you offer patient hearing to a difficult person for the first time, their behaviour often gets worse before it gets better. This article explains why escalation is a predictable response, what signs to watch for, and how to hold steady when the surge arrives.
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AI Rebranding: The Communication Mistake Costing Companies Trust
AI Rebranding: The Communication Mistake Costing Companies Trust
Across industries, companies with little to no artificial intelligence infrastructure are rushing to plant the word "AI" in their names, mission statements, and investor decks. This wave of cosmetic rebranding follows the money: AI-adjacent companies attract higher valuations and more attention. The substance behind the label, in most cases, is thin.
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Coworker Said 'You're Getting Fired': A Communication Red Flag
Coworker Said 'You're Getting Fired': A Communication Red Flag
An ABA therapist shared on Reddit that a coworker returned from a bathroom break and delivered four unsettling words: "You are getting fired." The catch? The therapist's managers had given no indication of any performance problems. The coworker offered no context, no source, no explanation. The internet responded with widespread skepticism, suspecting the coworker was either stirring drama or running a manipulation play.
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What Tangela Parker Teaches Us About Leadership Communication
What Tangela Parker Teaches Us About Leadership Communication
Tangela Q. Parker has been recognized in CEOWORLD magazine as a leader who built her leadership identity around two core pillars: discipline and trust. Rather than leading through charisma or visibility alone, Parker has drawn attention for a quieter, more structured approach to running her organization. Her profile signals a growing conversation in business circles about what effective leadership actually looks like when the cameras are off.
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Why Enterprise Buyers Trust People, Not Companies
Why Enterprise Buyers Trust People, Not Companies
Olga Bondareva, founder of ModumUp, made a public argument that enterprise sales live or die on personal trust, not brand recognition. Her position: when a company tries to sell into a large organization, the human being making the pitch matters more than the logo on the business card. This is not a new idea, but the way she framed it for a business audience is worth examining closely.
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Paul Papalia Prison Crisis: A Communication Failure
Paul Papalia Prison Crisis: A Communication Failure
During a violent riot at West Kimberley Regional Prison in Western Australia, female inmates were allegedly sexually assaulted by male prisoners who gained access to them amid the chaos. When the story broke publicly, WA Corrections Minister Paul Papalia refused to explain why the incident had been withheld from public knowledge. The silence after the silence became its own scandal.
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Why Your Conflict Instincts Are Wrong (And How to Fix Them)
Why Your Conflict Instincts Are Wrong (And How to Fix Them)
MasterClass just launched a conflict communication course taught by Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist who spent twenty years studying how people fight and why it goes wrong. The timing is pointed: American businesses are hemorrhaging nearly three billion dollars every single day because employees either escalate conflicts badly or bury them entirely. More than half of workers admit they deal with toxic situations by pretending those situations do not exist.
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