Joseph Grenny

Joseph Grenny is a social scientist, speaker and trainer. He spent his early career designing change programs for companies and government agencies. In 1990 he co-founded VitalSmarts, a corporate training company now called Crucial Learning, with Kerry Patterson, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler.

The four wrote Crucial Conversations (2002). The book argues that results in work and life depend on how people handle the moments when stakes are high, opinions differ and emotions run strong. Most people either go silent or turn aggressive. The book teaches a set of skills to keep both sides talking until they reach a shared understanding. The same team later wrote Crucial Confrontations (now Crucial Accountability), Influencer and Change Anything.

Outside the company, Grenny co-founded Unitus, a nonprofit that helps poor communities in developing countries become economically self-reliant, and chairs Unitus Labs. In 2015 he and his wife co-founded The Other Side Academy, a residential program in Utah for people with long histories of crime, addiction and homelessness.