run-difficult-conversation

run-difficult-conversation is a skill for Claude Code from jeffreytse/grimoire-core. It costs 29 tokens per session (1,238 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A guide for preparing and leading a high-stakes conversation about conflict, feedback, performance, or another sensitive issue.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to plan the conversation, handle strong emotions, and discuss conflict or performance concerns.
Why use it?
It helps address difficult problems directly while protecting the working relationship and reaching a lasting agreement.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: shipped in a Claude Code plugin.

Part of the grimoire-business plugin — 145 skills shipped together

Good fit Use it to plan the conversation, handle strong emotions, and discuss conflict or performance concerns.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/run-difficult-conversation
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add jeffreytse/grimoire-core --skill run-difficult-conversation
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jeffreytse/grimoire-core

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install grimoire-business, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 145 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for run-difficult-conversation

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/run-difficult-conversation/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/run-difficult-conversation)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/run-difficult-conversation"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/run-difficult-conversation/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for run-difficult-conversation

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/run-difficult-conversation"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/run-difficult-conversation.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 29 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,238 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00029 $0.01238
Opus 5 $0.00015 $0.00619
Sonnet 5 $0.00006 $0.00248
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00124

Measured 5d ago against content hash 7e98f4462046, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-09, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

run-difficult-conversation scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 5d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/business/leadership/skills/run-difficult-conversation/SKILL.md · 63 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 63 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Run Difficult Conversation

Plan and conduct a high-stakes conversation that addresses conflict, performance, or sensitive issues without damaging the relationship.

Why This Is Best Practice

Adopted by: Google, Netflix, Bridgewater Associates, and organizations using radical candor and Harvard Negotiation frameworks Impact: Patterson et al. found that the ability to hold crucial conversations is the single highest predictor of team performance and individual career success across 20,000+ respondents. Stone et al. documented that avoided difficult conversations cost organizations an estimated $359 billion per year in lost productivity (CPP Global Human Capital Report). Scott's research showed that managers who give direct, caring feedback retain top performers at 2x the rate of those who avoid difficult feedback. Why best: Most difficult conversations are avoided because of anticipated emotional cost, but avoidance compounds both the problem and the relationship damage. A structured approach reduces emotional flooding, keeps both parties in a collaborative mindset, and produces durable agreements.

Sources: Stone, Patton & Heen "Difficult Conversations" (Harvard Negotiation Project, 1999); Patterson, Grenny et al. "Crucial Conversations" (2002); Scott "Radical Candor" (2017)

Steps

  1. Identify the three conversations — every difficult conversation contains three simultaneous conversations: (1) What happened? (the content dispute), (2) How do I feel? (the emotional layer), and (3) What does this say about me? (the identity layer). Prepare for all three.

  2. Examine your own contribution — before the conversation, ask: What role did I play in creating this situation? Assuming you bear no responsibility is almost always incorrect and closes off productive resolution. Acknowledge your contribution early in the conversation.

  3. Set an appropriate time and place — schedule a private, uninterrupted setting. Never initiate a difficult conversation in public, immediately before a major event, or via text/email. Request the meeting with context: "I'd like to discuss something important. Can we meet privately for 30 minutes?"

Read the full file on GitHub · 63 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 5d ago First seen · 63 lines · 29 tokens per session scan A 7e98f4462046

Subscribe to this mod's changes

run-difficult-conversation is a skill published in the GitHub repository jeffreytse/grimoire-core (4 stars, last pushed 20d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 29 tokens to every session and 1,238 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-03.

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