We’ve all experienced it. Think back to the last time you felt your temper flare during a particularly heated exchange with a difficult colleague which ended in a disagreement. Maybe a flurry of tense emails followed, or, worse still, communication broke down entirely.

Rising to the top of your field often comes with unexpected challenges. While conflict resolution and managing upwards is a given as your seniority increases, juggling peer-to-peer relationships at an executive level means deploying a whole new skill set. One that isn’t always intuitive, especially when you’re dealing with differing personality types who are paid to be equally non-compromising and vocal.