Unspeakable - by Christina Wing (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In business and life we avoid sensitive yet crucial topics at our own peril. Harvard Business School's Christina Wing provides tools for navigating and communicating with clarity and compassion.

We live in a world where the list of off-limits topics keeps growing--at work, at home, and even among friends. Age, retirement, succession, failure, money, politics: these subjects feel too sensitive to touch. So we avoid them, sticking to small talk and keeping up appearances. But this comes at a cost. When we can't address the realities shaping our lives and careers, trust erodes and relationships suffer. Is this really the new normal?

In Unspeakable: The Taboo Topics We Avoid and How to Talk About Them, Harvard Business School's Christina Wing argues that it shouldn't be. Drawing on decades of experience working with family enterprises and in boardrooms and classrooms, Wing reveals how fear and inhibition undermine performance--and how learning to address and talk about the "unspeakables" can improve our organizations and our lives. This is not a call for reckless candor; it's a practical guide to speaking and acting with clarity, empathy, and respect.

Through vivid stories--from family firms derailed by secrecy to global companies paralyzed by conversations that don't happen--Wing shows the costs of dodging the truth--and what changes when we face it. Each chapter tackles a different taboo, from estate planning and layoffs to race and religion, offering strategies and scripts to help readers navigate these issues with confidence.

Leaders, colleagues, and families need deeper relationships built on real talk, not small talk. Unspeakable gives you the knowledge and tools to start those conversations--and to make workplaces and lives more honest, humane, and resilient.

About the Author

Christina Wing is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, where her research and teaching focus on family enterprise and leadership. She created the popular MBA course Demystifying the Family Enterprise, chairs the Executive Education program Families in Business, and is a sought-after speaker in the broader family-enterprise field. She is also the founder of Wingspan Legacy Partners, advising founders and families at the intersection of family dynamics, business operations, wealth, and impact. She began her career at Kidder, Peabody and Goldman Sachs and later held leadership roles at a startup and a large family office.