Candid communication enhances innovation, ownership, engagement, and performance. The benefits of hearing questions and uncertainties, good and bad ideas, and honest feedback are game-changing. Yet research shows that most of the time, people never share their true thoughts with each other—and especially not with their leaders.
But what if they did? What if everyone could confidently communicate without fearing a negative response? In Permission to Speak Freely, highly acclaimed leader developers Doug Crandall and Matt Kincaid illustrate the benefits of candor, explain the inhibitors that cause it to feel unsafe, and provide tools for leaders to encourage their people and embed trust and openness into the foundation of their organizational culture.Contents Foreword by Shann Ray Ferch, PhD vii Introduction: How Speaking Freely Helped Bring a Championship to Seattle 1 PART ONE:
WHAT LEADERS NEED TO HEAR 1: Questions and Uncertainties 11 2:  Great Ideas and Terrible Ones 21 3:  Feedback and Concerns 27 
 PART TWO: THE PROBLEM 
 4:  Leaders Impede Communication 35 5:  A Leader’s Power Suffocates 45 
 6:  People Fear Judgment 53 
 7:  Rejection Leads to Fatigue 65 PART THREE: HOW TO CULTIVATE
A CULTURE OF CANDOR 8:  Assume Positive Intent 73 
 9:  Prove It’s Safe 93 
 10:  Dignify Every Try 105
 11:  Be Genuinely Curious 117 12:  The Promised Land 133 Notes 147 Index 151 About the lÀ