Expand the Frame

The First and Most Important Step to Resolving Relational Conflicts

By Byron Gossett

 
 

Guidelines for Resolving Relational Conflicts

Chapter 1: Everything makes sense if you have enough information.
Chapter 2: People don’t get unstuck until they feel understood.
Chapter 3: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
Chapter 4: Be proactive, not reactive.
Chapter 5: Distance creates perspective; Distance creates distortion.
Chapter 6: If you can name it, you can tame it.
Chapter 7: Most conflict comes from unmet expectations.
Chapter 8: Integrity is the courage to deal responsibly with reality.
Chapter 9: All change involves loss; all loss involves change.
Chapter 10: It’s difficult to see the picture when you are inside the frame.

 
 

Byron Gossett

Drawing on more than four decades of experience in the agri-business and banking industries, as well as serving on sixteen Boards of Directors, Gossett provides insights, ideas and strategic introductions to address client needs. During his seventeen years of private consulting a wide array of clients ranging from individuals to local and international organizations, Gossett guided each to effectively identify and sustainably address challenges and opportunities.

With integrity as his guiding principle, Gossett employs confidentiality, objectivity and creative problem-solving as the hallmarks of his work with clients.

Gossett resides in Fort Worth, Texas and enjoys spending as much of his spare time as possible with his eight grandchildren, his three children and their spouses, and his wife and best friend, Tricia.

Expand the Frame

Relationships are vital. We can’t live without them. If we are honest, though, we would all have to admit that there are times when we can’t live with them, either. Conflict in those relationships is the reason why they frustrate us, irritate us, discourage us. If the conflict goes unresolved, the emotional cost of staying in those relationships adds up.

If you are experiencing conflict in your relationships, let me ask you a question. How long can you go on with all that unresolved conflict living inside you, eating away at you?

Before you head for the door, I have some good news…

Your problem is not the person. Your problem is the conflict that exists with the person.

I have even more good news…

The conflict can be resolved.

The first and most important step is to Expand the Frame.

 
 

What readers are saying…

  • “In my career as an entrepreneur, business operator, and teacher in the Harvard and Stanford MBA programs, I have been struck by the impact of relationships in organizations. I am now helping Stanford MBA candidates develop their skills in the principles and practice of communication, including conflict resolution. As I read Expand the Frame, written by my friend Byron Gossett, I was impressed with the practical utility woven into the stories Byron tells from his dual careers as a rancher and consultant. He points out that conflict in business and in life is to be expected, but unresolved conflict must be addressed proactively. He then goes on to describe how that often difficult task can be accomplished. Byron has created a clearly written, compelling reference document useful in both professional and personal settings.”

    — H. Irving Grousbeck
    Class of 1980 Adjunct Professor of Management
    Stanford University Graduate School of Business
    Co-owner, Boston Celtics

  • “In my 40 years as an estate planning attorney, I have seen repeatedly how valuable it is to have Byron Gossett on the planning team. At some point, every family and business owner needs an advisor like Byron to help heal and strengthen relationships. Byron brings many talents to the table, but his greatest skill is his ability to connect with people and help them address the hard issues that most sweep under the rug. You’ll enjoy Byron’s captivating stories in Expand The Frame and get a glimpse of his remarkable intellect, intuition, and heart. I wholeheartedly endorse Byron Gossett.”

    — Marvin Blum
    Mr. Blum is a nationally recognized estate attorney and the founder of The Blum Firm, based in Fort Worth,Texas with offices throughout Texas. Nationally, he serves on the Board of a range of organizations, including TIGER 21 and Texas Cultural Trust.

  • “Byron has found an angle that gives the reader a clear cut step by step process to break down the barriers of relationships in conflict. Families that work together often find themselves in struggles that are very difficult to resolve. Byron has produced an easy, workable method and assimilated a read that is quick and simple to put into use. I have added several portions of the content of Expand the Frame to my work with clients in family business since reading the book. Already, these easily grasped concepts related to resolving conflict are resonating with my clients.”

    — Dr. David Swift
    Dr. David Swift has built on his initial 14 year career on Wall Street to establish a highly respected consultancy to a wide range of businesses, notably family businesses. Along with an abundance of published articles for a variety of national publications, Dr. Swift is the author of the Smalley-Swift Personality Profiling System.

  • "As an investor in and beyond agriculture and as a shareholder of a 6th generation family business, I have become convinced over the years that relationships are central to determining successful outcomes. Beyond business, the same principle is true…healthy relationships continually lead to fulfilled goals, in families, communities and in society at large. As a fellow rancher and businessman, my friend Byron Gossett has demonstrated again and again that relationships matter. In his book Expand the Frame, Byron provides practical insights into how unresolved conflicts so often damage relationships. He goes on to explain a number of practical and reliable steps toward helping the reader to successfully resolve conflicts. Written in a plainspoken, yet transparent style, this book can serve as a field manual for healthy relationships; from the camp house on the ranch to the family dinner table, to the boardroom in the center of the city. I recommend Expand the Frame to readers from all walks of life who seek to prevent or to resolve conflict."

    — Scott Kleberg
    Businessman and rancher
    Managing Member CA Partners, LLC and Windgate Partners, LLC

  • “Having started my leadership experience in the U.K. working for Multi National, Fortune 500 Companies at the C level, I understand and value relationships. Although Byron and I could never be said to come from the same demographics, we come from the same belief system; one that is driven by life-long learning, constant self-assessment of alignment to core values and a determination to do one's best for those around us. What Byron and I share is a deep rooted belief in creating great relationships. Byron has advised me at my own business Café Express, where I am an equity partner and President, but I have also experienced Byron’s advisorship through Mike Terry at M. Terry Enterprise. Byron unsurprising, shares so much of his life in his book “Expand The Frame” I would recommend reading this book immediately if you want to know who he is as a person. My heart was in my mouth reading it. It is an honor to be able to work with him.”

    —Sarah McAloon
    M. Terry Enterprise

  • "In the earliest days of my professional life, I learned it was rarely the issue which causes acrimony and dissent but in fact how the issue was handled. Thus, I have taught many fellow team members that you must focus on the how as much or more than the what. My good friend Byron Gossett has captured the essence of resolving and, indeed, avoiding conflict in his superb book, Expand the Frame. As a forty-year professional working with hundreds of thousands of volunteers, I can appreciate Byron’s book more than most. Expand the Frame has helped me even into my 22nd year as the CEO of The Association of Former Students of Texas A&M University. As someone who has built a career on genuine relationships, I can well attest to the experienced insight Byron provides in his book. I highly recommend Expand the Frame to anyone who values meaningful, productive, and healthy relationships."

    — Porter S. Garner III
    President and CEO
    The Association of Former Students
    Texas A&M University

  • "Most of my career has been helping some 75 entrepreneurs acquire companies. In 25 of those cases I served as an active board member. I've even acquired a few directly and run them myself. This I have observed: when unresolved conflict persists in businesses, and life in general for that matter, progress is slowed or comes to a complete halt. In reading Expand the Frame, written by my lifelong friend, Byron Gossett, I found a very useful and enjoyable approach to helping the reader successfully address conflict. Unless you are a complete stranger to conflict, this is a "must read"."

    —Jim Southern
    Cofounder of Pacific Lake Partners, LLC

  • "The book Expand the Frame by Byron Gossett will stand the test of time as one of the most beautifully transparent and vulnerably-written books on the market. I don't know that one can be vulnerable without humility, so the undertones of humility throughout the text must be recognized as the driving current of this most helpful book. If humility is the undercurrent, the cherry on top would be Byron's humor. It is most appropriately-placed and will make you laugh out loud. To read it alongside some of the most emotionally impactful, heart-wrenching stories of love and loss beautifully softens the pain but does not take it away. For anyone out there struggling through conflict - be it familial, with a friend, with a spouse, with a co-worker... or with one's self, do not miss Expand the Frame."

    —Mary Clay Gupton
    Founder, Claiborne Creative

  • "I've had the privilege of knowing Byron Gossett since the mid-1990's and provided him with cattle nutrition consulting services for his cattle operations. Simply put, I learned far more from Byron than he ever learned from me. Byron is one of the finest, principled men of faith that I've ever met. Coincidentally, Byron also provided visionary consulting advice to the leaders of our church. In the livestock industry, men and women that have the character, steadiness, endurance, wisdom, and honesty, like Byron, stand out and become legends. I believe these traits come from the soul of a person and their “centering point.” Expand the Frame gave me another, deeper, opportunity to see the soul of Byron as well as the opportunity to learn how this man of integrity learned to resolve relational conflict. This book passes those skills on to others. I will read Expand the Frame again, probably several times, and highly recommend that others do too.”

    —Matt Cravy, PhD
    Summit Ag & Consulting, LLC

  • "I read Expand the Frame with more than passing interest or a desire to consume another “self-help book”. Byron Gossett has been my friend for over 50 years. We met as freshmen pledge brothers in the fall of 1968 at TCU and have been great friends ever since. I was around him some of the early days he describes in Expand the Frame, but knew little about the personal struggles he was engaged in at the time. He was then, as he is now, a person of immense character, compassion, and integrity. I grew as a person just being around him. His personal and professional struggles over the years give enormous credence to the advice he suggests in this book. Relationships matter. Compromise and compassion matter. Whether you’re a business leader, a church leader, an educator, parent or child, this book provides great clarity of purpose and will help you grow. I’m so very glad Byron is my friend."

    — Jim Nelson
    Former Texas Commissioner of Education

Buy the Book
 
 

Please email contact@byron-gossett.com for all speaking engagement &/or consulting inquires.