Jamie and Maren Showkeir are managing partners of henning-showkeir & associates, inc. and co-authors Authentic Conversations: Moving from Manipulation to Truth and Commitment (Berrett-Koehler, 2008). A critically acclaimed business book, Authentic Conversations challenges conventional wisdom on key business and workplace practices and presents concrete ways to
consciously make ordinary conversations the primary driver of workplace change. Jamie has advised hundreds of public and private sector organizations—from Global 1000 companies to entrepreneurial and non-profit enterprises—and aided in strengthening their results by distributing organizational power and influence.
Maren spent the first part of her career as a reporter, editor and senior manager at major daily newspapers in Arizona and Florida. She also taught journalism at private universities in Argentina and Peru. Her 25 years of experience in managing, training and teaching provided rich background for her work as a consultant who helps organizations create cultures of accountability through employee engagement. Both authors are skilled, popular media sources, having appeared in dozens of leading print and online publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Huffington Post, Women for Hire and CNNMoney. They live in Phoenix, Ariz., and can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected]
Drawing on more than 25 years of experience as organizational consultants, their book offers examples of parent-child and adult-adult workplace conversations in a variety of settings, circumstances and industries. They also provide a hands-on guide, including sample scripts, for dealing with a host of potentially difficult conversations.
Authentic Conversations goes to the heart of why so many people today are disengaged, uninspired, and uncommitted to their organization’s success. It challenges the conventional wisdom about managing people and sets out specific, concrete ways to consciously make conversations the primary driver for change.
