Has there ever been a time when you wanted to tell someone something, but the topic was awkward to address, so you never did? Now flip the question. Has there ever been a time when you heard something second hand and it was more upsetting than if the person had directly told you? Communication is hard and having honest conversations isn’t easy. But most of the time it’s not circumstances that get in the way of being open... it’s our internal machinations – our assumptions and emotions – that stop us. "The missing conversations are the most costly in marriages and companies… When you say nothing about issues, the issues will never resolve. So... whatever your circumstances are, it's so much more costly to not have the conversation." That’s Stacey Engle, President of Fierce Conversations. Stacey’s job is to help business leaders have honest dialogues between themselves, their colleagues, and their employees - and it’s something she practices every day within Fierce. Every operation that goes into building a business matters… but they all start with one thing: a conversation. And as Stacey shares today, its conversations - especially the ones you aren’t having - that matter most. ---  Learn more about The Journey at mission.org/thejourney. The Journey is sponsored by our friends at Salesforce Essentials. We use Salesforce Essentials every day and it’s part of our own business journey. Essentials combines sales and service tools in a single app to help small businesses win customers and keep them happy. See how Salesforce Essentials can help you be your best business at salesforce.com/thejourney.