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We avoid sensitive yet crucial topics at our own peril. Harvard Business School's Christina Wing provides tools for communicating with clarity and compassion.
We live in a world where the list of off-limits topics keeps growing—at work, among friends, even at home. Age, retirement, succession, failure, money, politics: these subjects often feel too sensitive to touch. So we avoid them, sticking to small talk. But avoidance 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, Christina Wing argues that it shouldn't be. Drawing on decades of experience working with family-run businesses 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 topic, from estate planning and unemployment 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 honest discussion, not small talk. Unspeakable gives you the knowledge and tools to start those conversations—and make workplaces and lives more open, honest, and resilient.
Advance Praise for Unspeakable:
"Tired of small talk and guarded conversations when you want and need to go deeper? You don't have to be. Christina Wing offers courage and practical wisdom to face life's most difficult conversations. Read Unspeakable and start finding the trust and depth you want from your relationships." — Arthur C. Brooks, #1 New York Times–bestselling author, The Meaning of Your Life
"Unspeakable is a clear and useful guide to having the conversations we avoid at work and at home. Christina Wing pairs vivid stories with clear scripts to reveal how to talk about money, power, succession, layoffs, politics, and more in ways that build trust rather than secrecy or fear." — Amy C. Edmondson, professor, Harvard Business School; author, Right Kind of Wrong
"Unspeakable is both profound and practical. It shows us how to talk about life's most difficult topics, like money, mortality, fear, and family. A book for everyone who cares about their effectiveness and legacy." — Jim Koch, founder and CEO, Boston Beer Company
"When we avoid talking about uncomfortable topics, the results can be catastrophic. Christina Wing will help you learn to embrace the discomfort so that you can have the conversations you want to avoid but need to have—for both your own sake and the sake of the people you care about." — Kim Scott, author, Radical Candor
"Christina Wing has written a brilliant and empathetic book about the devastation that can result when we don't say the things that need to be said. Unspeakable is a blueprint on how to make our professional—and personal—relationships deeper and better." — Bethany McLean, contributing editor, Vanity Fair
"I can't stop talking about Christina Wing's Unspeakable. This timeless and beautifully written gem helped me grasp why it is so hard to talk about 'forbidden' topics such as money, aging, failure, and family conflicts, and why it is crucial to have these oh-so-difficult conversations." — Robert I. Sutton, professor emeritus, Stanford University; author, The No Asshole Rule
Christina Wing is a faculty member at Harvard Business School, where her research and teaching focus on family enterprises 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 the founder of Wingspan Legacy Partners, advising founders and families at the intersection of family dynamics, ownership, succession, wealth, and impact.