This book, based on more than twenty years helping elected officials, parents, partners, friends and co-workers break impasses, relies not only on my clinical experience but also on science. It is designed to help you break impasses you find yourself in so that you can get what you need. In the pages ahead you will learn a communication program called LEAP®. The Listen-Empathize-Agree-Partner® program involves evidenced based techniques that I developed with colleagues over twenty years ago. In the 20th anniversary edition of another one of my books, I’m Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help! I wrote that, “Getting someone in denial to accept your point of view and suggestions, is a marathon, not a sprint.” The same is true for any impasse, for any “I’m right and you’re wrong” interaction. When training for a marathon, you don’t just go on long runs. You also ride a bike, go swimming, play tennis, take long walks. This is called cross-training. This book is all about becoming fluent in the language of LEAP, practicing what it takes to run that marathon to create a dialogue that leads to breaking an impasse. It requires cross-training and immersion. That is why in the pages ahead you will be immersed in LEAP and experience it being used in a wide variety of circumstances and relationships. You will cross-train.