We dislike it from our supervisors, reject it from our peers, and rebel against it from our parents. Other adults deserve to be treated like adults, even if their behavior has been irresponsible. They've been conditioned to check their personal power at the door and put the clinician on a pedestal. Such interaction creates a parent-child relationship that can cause the patient to rebel after leaving the office, leading to dangerous noncompliance. The same holds true when the communication is between parent and child, spouses, business colleagues, and friends.
Short conversations have the power to effect permanent change.
Perhaps the best illustration I can give on the power that comes with a simple change in attitude is to look at the difficult conversations adults often have with teenagers. During this precarious time of life, a young person changes emotionally and physically from the innocence of childhood to the complexity of adult existence. The process is complicated, because the young person's commitment to adult-adult relationships tends to waiver. When it's convenient or more comfortable, the teenager may tend to revert to the child role. That's where mastery of the short conversation can make all the difference in the world.