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"A useful guide to communicating with the uncommunicable ... clearly, dynamically presented and easy to grasp."―Publisher's Weekly

"Readers will be delighted. Most everyone can benefit from this book, especially those in the workplace. In addition, parents, educators, and students will find these insights valuable."―Booklist, Starred Review

Chapter Page
Foreword
by David Bonnstetter vii
Introduction: The Man Who Was Surrounded by Idiots xi
1. Communication Happens on the Listener's Terms 1
2. Why Are We the Way We Are? 7
3. An Introduction to the System 12
4. Red Behavior: How to Recognize a Real Alpha and Avoid Getting in His Way 16
5. Yellow Behavior: How to Recognize Someone Whose Head Is in the Clouds and Get Him Back to Reality Again 28
6. Green Behavior: Why Change Is So Difficult and How to Get Around It 37
7. Blue Behavior: In Pursuit of Perfection 48
8. No One Is Completely Perfect: Strengths and Weaknesses 62
9. Learning New Things: How to Use What You've Learned 102
10. Body Language: Why How You Move Matters: How Do You Really Look? 106
11. A Real-Life Example: The Company Party-How to Understand Everyone You Meet 119
12. Adaptation: How to Handle Idiots (i.e., Everyone Who Isn't like You) 125
13. How to Deliver Really Bad News: The Challenge of Speaking Your Mind 169
14. Who Gets Along and Why It Works: Group Dynamics at Their Finest 190
15. Written Communication: How to Evaluate Someone When You Can't Meet in Person 198
16. What Makes Us as Mad as Hell?: Temperament Can Reveal Everything About a Person 202
17. Stress Factors and Energy Thieves: What Is Stress? 210
18. A Short Reflection Through History: People Have Always Been like This 224
19. Voices from Real Life 231
20. A Quick Little Quiz to See What You've Learned 256
21. A Final Example from Everyday Life: Perhaps the Most Enlightening Team Project in the History of the World 262
The Answers to the Questions in Chapter 20 269
Further Reading 271
Index 273
About the Author 283

Do you ever think you’re the only one making any sense? Or tried to reason with your partner with disastrous results? Do long, rambling answers drive you crazy? Or does your colleague’s abrasive manner rub you the wrong way?

You are not alone. After a disastrous meeting with a highly successful entrepreneur, who was genuinely convinced he was ‘surrounded by idiots’, communication expert and bestselling author, Thomas Erikson dedicated himself to understanding how people function and why we often struggle to connect with certain types of people.

Surrounded by Idiots is an international phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide. It offers a simple, yet ground-breaking method for assessing the personalities of people we communicate with ？ in and out of the office ？ based on four personality types (Red, Blue, Green and Yellow), and provides insights into how we can adjust the way we speak and share information.

Erikson will help you understand yourself better, hone communication and social skills, handle conflict with confidence, improve dynamics with your boss and team, and get the best out of the people you deal with and manage. He also shares simple tricks on body language, improving written communication, advice on when to back away or when to push on, and when to speak up or shut up. Packed with ‘aha!’ and ‘oh no!’ moments, Surrounded by Idiots will help you understand and communicate with those around you, even people you currently think are beyond all comprehension.

And with a bit of luck you can also be confident that the idiot out there isn’t you!