The series
Across the Table
Four books, one for each kind of high-stakes conversation at work. Read them in any order.
The name is where all four books happen. Hazel Crowe sat on both sides of that table for 31 years: as the buyer every pitch was aimed at, and in around 1,200 difficult conversations at work, first as a colleague's representative and later running the hearings herself. Her career in full.
Across the Table is what she saw from both chairs.
The four books
Nobody's Fool
Book 1 of 4, in publication order
The room where somebody is trying to win.
17 tactics, one per chapter, told from the receiving end, with the one thing to do when you notice each.
Five Ways of Looking at a Person
Book 2 of 4, in publication order
The room where both of you still have to work together on Monday.
A first-time manager's guide to feedback, conflict and the formal process.
Articulate
Book 3 of 4, in publication order
The room where you have to be understood the first time.
30 days of 9-minute drills, done out loud and recorded.
Culture Is What Management Tolerates
Book 4 of 4, in publication order
The room where the real rules get made, usually by saying nothing.
20 chapters on the gap between the standard a leader states and the one they enforce, each with one tool.
What the four share
- One author, writing from the chair across from yours.
- Where a point rests on a study, the study is named, and so is how well it has held up.
- Every person and conversation is a composite, built so that nobody can be recognised.
Questions readers ask
- What is the Across the Table series?
- Four practical books by Hazel Crowe on high-stakes conversations at work: manipulation tactics and negotiation, difficult conversations for managers, speaking up and being understood, and workplace culture. Each one stands alone.
- What order should I read them in?
- Any order. Start with whatever you're walking into next: a negotiation or interview (Nobody's Fool), a hard conversation with someone on your team (Five Ways of Looking at a Person), a meeting where your point has to land (Articulate), or a team where the same problem keeps coming back (Culture Is What Management Tolerates).
- Which book helps me spot manipulation in a negotiation or office politics?
- Nobody's Fool. It walks through a negotiation in order (anchor, frame, concession, clock, reopen), gives the counter to each move, and keeps two lists: 19 tactics to recognise, 7 that are fair to use.
- Is there a book for first-time managers facing difficult conversations?
- Five Ways of Looking at a Person covers feedback and appraisal, disciplinary, grievance and capability meetings, redundancy and exit. It assumes no HR training.
- How can I think on my feet and stop losing my point in meetings?
- Articulate is a 30-day communication skills workbook. Each day is a 9-minute drill, out loud, on prompts you didn't choose. Record Day 1, record Day 30, listen to both.
- Is there a book on workplace culture?
- Culture Is What Management Tolerates is about the behaviour leaders walk past and what it teaches a team. Every chapter has one tool, shown filled in for an example team, and the appendices hold a 40-statement culture diagnostic and 20 blank templates.
- Do the books help with job interviews and salary negotiation?
- Nobody's Fool covers the interview from both chairs, including the question about what you earn now. Articulate's last chapter takes interviews, pitches and big meetings from the panel's side.
- Who is Hazel Crowe?
- A retired negotiator and employee relations practitioner who has sat in every chair: the buyer, the representative and the person running the hearing, for organisations of 300 to 4,000 people. Hazel Crowe is a pen name.
- Are the stories real?
- Every person and conversation is a composite, built so that nobody can be recognised.
- Are the books based on psychology research?
- They're built on what Hazel watched happen across the table. Where a point rests on a study, the study is named with how well it has held up, and Nobody's Fool notes the famous findings that failed to replicate.