Book Sips #55 — ‘Surrounded by Idiots’ by Thomas Erikson
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Working as a consultant means always diving into new industries and processes that are not familiar to me at first. In order to offer the best solution for our clients and making sure that they also adopt the system, means understanding what the individuals and the group needs. Are they saying everything that is needed? Are they potentially forgetting about certain processes and are eager to jump to the next topic? This book really helped me to understand better what is important for various individuals and how best to communicate with them so that what we build makes sense to them and also works. There is no right way to communicate with others however spotting the varying degrees of what matters to those around us most, will definitely help to get your own message heard and understood more easily. As a result, you can avoid raising unnecessary concerns and worries (for Greens and Blues mainly) or make sure that the development team is not overrun and demotivated by the feedback of a Red.
A sip:
‘In my second or third week in the new job, I was sitting in a traffic jam when my cell phone rang. I looked at the display and saw that it was Bjoern. I answered the way I’d been instructed to when I started at the company — with a greeting, my name, and the company name. Impatiently he interrupted me and spit out his question. ‘Where you looking for me?’ ‘No,’ I replied, and took a deep breath, ready to say something else. I didn’t get the chance. ‘Okay’, he said, and hung up. Eight seconds. Unpleasant?’
Beyond the book
The base framework of the four personality types: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue
More on how to understand those who cannot be understood can be found on Thomas Erikson’s website.
Surrounded by Idiots
The Four Types of Human Behaviour (or, How to Understand Those Who Cannot Be Understood)
by Thomas Erikson
Why read?
Everything you say to a person is filtered through their frames of reference, biases, and preconceived ideas. Communication happens on the listener's terms and what you are saying may not be received as that by whoever you say it to. The book helps to understand how various people communicate, what is important for them and what will likely make them understand. It illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of each and talks about challenging as well as the complementary combinations of characters.
304 pages, Essentials 2020
Get this book here on Amazon!
