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Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life) (The Surrounded by Idiots Series) Hardcover – July 30, 2019

by Thomas Erikson (Author)

9,399

Part of: The Surrounded by Idiots Series (7 books)

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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!

Part of series

The Surrounded by Idiots Series
Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

St. Martin's Essentials
Publication date

July 30, 2019
Dimensions

6.45 x 1 x 9.55 inches
ISBN-10

1250179947
ISBN-13

978-1250179944
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

Everything you say to a person is filtered through his frames of reference, biases, and preconceived ideas.
Highlighted by 5,858 Kindle readers
Flexibility and the ability to interpret other people’s needs is what characterizes a good communicator.
Highlighted by 5,592 Kindle readers
By adjusting yourself to how other people want to be treated, you become more effective in your communication.
Highlighted by 5,262 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

About the Author

Thomas Erikson is a Swedish behavioral expert, active lecturer, and bestselling author. For more than twenty years he has been traveling all over Europe delivering lectures and seminars to executives and managers at a wide range of companies, including IKEA, Coca Cola, Microsoft, and Volvo.

Surrounded by Idiots has been a Swedish runaway bestseller since it was first published in 2014. It has sold over 3 million copies worldwide and been translated into 42 languages.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Essentials (July 30, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250179947
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250179944
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.45 x 1 x 9.55 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #12,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #56 in Popular Psychology Personality Study
- #63 in Communication Skills
- #83 in Communication & Social Skills (Books)

Customer Reviews:
9,399

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Thomas Erikson

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Thomas Erikson is a motivator, author and public speaker. His book Surrounded by Idiots is one of the world’s best-selling non-fiction books and has been translated into over 40 languages.

https://www.surroundedbyidiots.com/en/

His way of sharing his knowledge with his readers is by using specific storytelling and lots of humor. To achieve new skills should be easy. Therefore, he do not write in a way that is packed with numbers and details, but rather in a way that will make the reader say: Ah! I recognize that!

Thomas has devoted close to 30 years of his career to helping people communicate with each other, and along the way he´s developed practical and functional tools that facilitate both professional and private life.

Thomas believes in the importance of a higher understanding of others, in order to decrease the number of unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts either in a relationship or at work.

Besides his book he also offer knowledge and understanding of human behaviour by his online courses, and his app Surrounded by idiots. Available both at Appstore and Playstore.

https://www.surroundedbyidiots.com/en/

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4.4 out of 5

9,399 global ratings

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Amanda*C

Worth the read

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2024

Verified Purchase

"Surrounded by Idiots" is basically a fun dive into why sometimes it feels like you're the only sane person in the room. The guy behind it, Thomas Erikson, uses this color system to break down personality types: Red for those bossy types who take charge, Yellow for the life-of-the-party folks, Green for the chill, laid-back ones, and Blue for the detail-oriented planners. It's kind of like having a cheat sheet for dealing with everyone from your boss to your in-laws.

Erikson, who knows a ton about how people tick, makes all this psychology stuff feel like a breeze to get. He’s filled the book with stories and examples that make you go, "Ah, so that's why they do that!" And even though he's laying down some pretty deep thoughts, he keeps it light with some laughs along the way.

Now, sure, the idea that everyone can be neatly sorted into just four types has got its fair share of eye rolls. Life and people are way more complicated than that. And, of course, not all the stories and tips will hit the mark for everyone. But, getting the gist of these personality colors can really change the game in how you get along with people. Whether it's at work, trying to navigate a project with a team that's all over the place, or at home, figuring out why your partner is so obsessed with planning every minute of a vacation, Erikson's got a point: knowing a bit about these types can smooth things over.

So, even with its simplifications and generalizations, "Surrounded by Idiots" is a hit for a reason. It’s got a casual, friendly way of clueing you into why people act the way they do, and it dishes out advice on how to handle it without losing your mind. Whether or not you buy into the whole color-coded personality thing, there's something pretty cool about getting a new lens to see why the world—and everyone in it—works the way they do.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Helpful for understanding

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024

Verified Purchase

This book did a good job at explaining the 4 different "colors" used to help explain people's style. It was interesting to visualize colleagues and friends as a description on how someone may handle things was explained. The book gives a better understanding of how you and everyone around you may handle any situation, and why some people seem to be more of a challenge or kindred spirit than others.

One person found this helpful

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Mariah

Interesting

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2022

Verified Purchase

To be completely honest, I decided to read this book, titled Surrounded by Idiots - The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and Life), after a particularly difficult day of teaching high school students. I saw the words “Surrounded by Idiots” in the list of options and thought, yup that’s the one. Every teacher can relate to those difficult days sometimes, but the ideas Erikson writes about in this book can be relatable to anyone at any time. He starts off explaining that we, in fact, are not surrounded by idiots. We are simply surrounded by people who are different than us and who think differently than us. Everyone has a tendency to think people who are different than us are idiots, but that is not necessarily the case.
Perhaps if I was having a better day when I chose to read this book, I would have looked at the rest of the title – “The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and Life).” This is a little more descriptive of the ideas Erikson touches on. The four types of human behavior, as Erikson explains it, is broken down into four different colors. This is just his way of organizing the information, but I find it clever and easy to follow. Erikson says on page 13, that most of the population is a combination of two colors, while few are purely one color or a mixture of three colors. He starts off with just describing personality characteristics of each color and how to recognize if someone in your life is a red, yellow, green, or blue. I very much enjoyed this, because I could pin point exact people in my life and what color they are. My sister is a dead on Red for instance. Throughout all the chapters of Surrounded by Idiots, I could confirm my sister is a Red in the way she handles conflict, in her body language, in how she sends emails (my sister and I are also coworkers), and in what “makes her mad as hell” as Erikson puts it.
I am a self-proclaimed Green. My Red sister and I get along great in social situations, but when it comes to making plans… that is a different story. Erikson talks about how the different colors work together and what challenges they may face starting on page 193. This got me thinking more about work related relationships, and I’ve got to say, Erikson is completely right in his assessment of collaborating colors. I won’t spoil all the details for you, but again it brought up situations I’ve been in with coworkers, etc. You may be able to tell from what I’ve written so far, but it was extremely difficult for me to not think of every single person in my life (work or social) and how they match up with the different colors in this book and the relationship I have with people of each personality type. This was enjoyable to me.
Erikson touches on many character traits, in work and social situations, of all four colors and how they communicate with the other colors – hence the more descriptive part of the title. He also gives plenty real life examples of coworkers of his or friends of his and their interactions. This made it realistic or relatable to me. I will say, it is kind of hard not to get defensive or think “nu uh, you’re wrong Erikson!” when he describes the weakness of the color(s) you identify with most. But keep in mind, and Erikson will remind also remind you, we are all human and no one or one personality color is perfect or superior. Overall, I very much enjoyed reading Surrounded by Idiots even though it was not the book I thought it was when I hit “buy with one click” on Amazon. As a teacher, I would highly recommend this book to other teachers because you will think of certain students or coworkers who are Red, Yellow, Green, or Blue as you read and get insight on how to work with them in a productive and empathetic manner. I’d give the book a 4.5/5. (I’d give it a 5, but it touched on some of my Green insecurities). The book is $14.99 here on Amazon and is 270 pages in length.

261 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Must read!!

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2024

Verified Purchase

It was very informative. I've looked at people that i deal with differently, trying to figure out what color they are, so I better know how to deal with them. It's helped me compassion and empathy for people more, and I've walked away from encounters less drained.

Helpful

Paul Hanley

It's a struggle not to find it contrived

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2023

Verified Purchase

Not that I believe everyone who writes a book about personality traits has to be a scholar, but the content of this book has been covered many times by many others, some of which were better qualified and didn't choose names recognizable to Americans as Swedish, just because they wrote from that perspective. This was like the Winnie the Pooh of DISC or Spiral Dynamics.

There were times when the author even contradicted himself, particularly when describing the Yellow traits. Initially stating that they run from conflict then later stating that they face the challenge head on, just with what might seem either unorthodox or "wild" solutions.

All I can say is, there are better versions of this approach out there, as I write this when the book has approximately 8k 4 star reviews.

55 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ryan Heimer

DiCS information done well.

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2024

Verified Purchase

This text is crucial for anyone who is trying to learn more about trying to learn more about oneself and working with teams. The information is well laid out and provides insights one wouldn't even consider. I recommend it for any member of a any organization regardless of job duties or role.

3 people found this helpful

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Magozik

Great read

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2024

Verified Purchase

Wow.. highly recommend. If you want to lean about different personalities, how they operate and how to effectively work with people who operate differently than you, then this is your book. This book will definitely help you understand things that you probably have been wandering about for years.

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Mylouska

Good book

Reviewed in Canada on February 3, 2024

Verified Purchase

It was interesting! Didn't know certain things and therefore it was great to learn something new.

One person found this helpful

julian urieta tecalco

Interesante, si eres líder, manager o para las relaciones personales

Reviewed in Mexico on January 25, 2024

Verified Purchase

Es un libro que todo mundo debería leer, cambiará tu perspectiva de las relaciones laborales, personales y la conformación de equipos de trabajo.

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Vickie

Great read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 25, 2024

Verified Purchase

Definitely worth a read. Took on holiday & couldn’t get my head out of it.

Poonam K

A must for anyone who wants to communicate without any conflict

Reviewed in India on March 3, 2024

Verified Purchase

"Surrounded by Idiots" by Thomas Erikson delves into the world of human personality types using his DISA model. The book categorizes individuals into four main types: Dominant, Influential, Steady, and Conscientious. Each type is characterized by distinct behaviors, communication styles, and motivations. Understanding these personality types can help individuals navigate social interactions more effectively by tailoring their communication strategies to suit the preferences of others. By recognizing and adapting to the communication styles of those around us, we can improve relationships, enhance teamwork, and minimize misunderstandings. The DISA model offers practical insights for personal and professional growth, enabling readers to decode the behaviors of others and communicate more successfully.

Juan Lugo

Corresponde totalmente con lo esperado

Reviewed in Spain on January 15, 2024

Verified Purchase

Corresponde con lo esperado

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