Cooperation isn't the absence of conflict but a means of managing conflict.

All conversation, in addition to whatever else it does, displays, and asks for recognition of, our competence.

The key to conversation at work is flexibility and understanding how what you say might be perceived by others.

For most women, the language of conversation is primarily a language of rapport: a way of establishing connections and negotiating relationships.

Communication is a continual balancing act, juggling the conflicting needs for intimacy and independence

The argument culture urges us to approach the world-and the people in it-in an adversarial frame of mind. It rests on the assumption that opposition is the best way to get anything done: Conflict and opposition are as necessary as cooperation and agreement, but the scale is off balance, with conflict and opposition over-weighted.

Each person's life is lived as a series of conversations.