Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life)

My lecturer recommended that I should get this book for my business management course. I thought it would be dull. Fantastic read and a few laughs out loud moments

This won’t tell you everything about a person but it will give you a good insight why people are the way that they are. It’s made me reflect on myself and helped me to develop a better understanding of everyone around me and how best to interact with them. For years I couldn’t understand why some people behaved how they do, now it’s so much clearer. Humans are complex beings so this isn’t able to dissect every personality, but it does provide an excellent overview.

Very good read, complements much of the insights work I have done over the years. In my opinion it makes it sound as though the 4 styles exist in blissful isolation even with a bit of blending. The reality is that we all sit on a spectrum of colours and depending on the influences of the day, we will move across the spectrum during 24 hours. Even more over a year, or a career. Of real frustration to the pronoun he/him. It’s the 21st century and should be reissued as a more neutral term. Loses a star for this point.

I found this book to be well written and an invaluable tool for anybody who has a strong desire to understand what makes other people tick. I am a partner in a business and I have found that the tips in this book have had a dramatic effect on my relationships with my clients. Sales have also gone up considerably as I can now present my ideas in a way that is understood by all of the different colours. This book has so much to give when it comes to communicating with others. If you can stand to read about your own colour (good and bad!), and then take on board what is said about the other colours, you too could find yourself getting through to people in a way you never dreamed was possible. As the colours relate to (almost) all people, this book is a great help in family relationships too - especially if you find that the person you're struggling to get on with is a different colour to you as suddenly, all of their seemingly crazy behaviour makes sense! For me personally, this book has truly been life changing. It's filled in the missing pieces and helped me in all aspects of interpersonal relationships. If you would like to get better results with people, be better understood or you just want to know how to get someone to see things from your perspective, this book can help. Highly recommended - I purchased the paperback as I found it is best for using for reference.

This is going to be an unusual book review. Because most will talk about the content of the book, which they loved or hated - or perhaps somewhere in between. I will leave others to give you those opinions on its content. I simply want to comment on a pet hate of my mine that the paperback edition of this book falls very foul of. Tiny font size! I bought it for an elderly relative of mine who wears glasses, but can cope with normal sized text. They gave up rapidly. Not because they found it boring, but because the font size was so small it was exhausting them simply trying to read it. I can't blame them! This edition would best be read with binoculars. The text is tiny. So if you're going to buy it... get the e-book.

A work colleague recommended this as I have at times felt like the title suggests....however this book convinced me otherwise. We are all different and bring our unique ideas skills and experience with us to the work place and in our daily lives. The book gave me an appreciation of others and why you might not find your kindred spirit in all areas of your daily existence...but when you do its the best as these can be the type people you stay friends with until you grown old and grey. That's not always possible so you have to live in the moment and work with what you have and make the most of your colleagues, this can make your life easier when you have a greater understanding.

Loved the way the author has given a preview of the personalities according to the 4 colours. I found most of it to be true based on my experience and interactions with people.

I found this book to be very enlightening and helpful. It explains how different people have different personality types, and how to communicate with them effectively. The author uses the DISC model, which categorizes people into four colorus: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. Each colour has its own strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and motivations. The book teaches you how to identify the colours of yourself and others, and how to adapt your style to suit their needs. The book is full of examples, tips, and exercises that make it easy to apply the concepts to your own life. I learned a lot about myself and the people around me. I realized why some people are easy to get along with, while others are more challenging. I also learned how to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts, and how to improve my relationships with different colours. The book is written in a clear and engaging way, with humour and anecdotes. The author is an expert on communication and behaviour, and he shares his insights and experiences in a relatable way. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand themselves and others better, and to communicate more effectively in any situation. It is a great book for personal and professional development.

its good for understanding

A really good book, it talks about how to segregate people into different colours so that you can understand their thinking and perceptions in a better way. Also makes segregating simple buy giving only 4 colours to work with and the qualities of each colour.

I’m not a pro reader, but I can binge read books that are really good - Simple, fun, and teach you something you can immediately apply. Surrounded by idiots caught my attention from the first few pages. It is one of those books that make you wonder how different society would be if everyone read it once. After I finished this book, I made a list of all the closest people I interact with (family, friends, coworkers, lovers) and tried to identify their “colors”. My perception of these people went from being “aggressive” or a “pushover” to “Red” and “Green”. It subconsciously became second nature to me to quickly identify what colors someone I am talking to falls under and so naturally you start understanding why people are the way they are and how YOU can adapt to them better to make the most out of that interaction/relationship. One area in which I found this information to be quite amusing and helpful to analyze is in the context of romantic relationships. I started seeing the “true colors” of my past partners and inherently saw why the relationships were either great, or not, and where they went wrong and how knowing this information now and applying the knowledge in the next relationship will be drastically life changing. I realized why as a Yellow, Red with hints of Blue I was having problems with someone that was Red and Blue - My “yellow side” clashed with their “blue side” while actually complementing their “red side”. Our common "redness" led us to fall for each other as we both like someone with the same qualities, but also played a role in weakness as it brought some subconscious competitiveness that is not good in a romantic partnership, especially if one or both partners aren’t emotionally mature enough to see things for what they are instead of falling prey to the supposed societal norms and perceptions that are unfortunately being reinforced in everyday social media content. It’s truly remarkable once you realize how humans self sabotage and this book definitely helps you realize that. I can also now see the downfall of my past relationship with a mostly Green person. My Red side could not only not tolerate being with a Green person, but it made my redness go into overdrive and into survival model (instinctual human behavior) which ultimately caused the imbalance that led to a breakup. In my personal view, It’s important to not see this as a lesson of « I can’t entertain a prospect with a color that challenges mine » as 1) though challenging, it is actually *goals* to be with someone that has some opposing qualities so both partners can adopt traits that can help them become a more upgraded and newer version of themselves that will open new doors in life. Remember, a partner should ultimately make you grow, not just make you feel comfortable. As a yellow, you want and need to become more blue, and as a blue you would most definitely benefit from being more yellow; in fact, it’s exactly those lack of yellow traits that have you somewhat stuck in your life and same goes for the yellow person - they both represent the characteristics that are needed to take their lives to the next level! and 2) because you come to understand that unless yo are both 100% one color, everyone (~85% of the population) will have a mix of colors and that you will have to learn to adapt to each other. I think couples needs to read this book more than anybody! In summary this book is a 9.5/10. Fun, simple, and impactful. Must read!

One of my favourite books ! Very easy to read . Entertaining

Brilliant book