Customer Reviews

The Great Connection

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

EXCELLENT resource for college age students to learn how to interact and gain interpersonal skills. Easy to read (you can finish it in one day) and understand, this book describes how to best communicate with four different styles of individuals. I use this book as a supplement to my management text in college level courses. This is one book students ALWAYS FINISH!!!!! Can't say enough about it.....READ IT AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!

Hippocrates was the first one to observe that people tend to fall into four behavioral styles. So what if your team members could really nail those four styles? What if you could dramatically increase their effectiveness with customers, partners, donors, board members and colleagues? What if they were better listeners?

It's subtitled "A Story That Reveals Life's Most Vital Lesson: How to Connect With Others--Especially Yourself." That's the big idea behind this book. Know yourself--because you are your highest priority, says Warren. Then understand both the effective traits and the ineffective traits of your style and the other three styles. (Can you name your top-5 most ineffective traits?) It's all about connecting and adapting to other styles--and, as you'll see in this book, the results can be amazing.

The book is not boring theory. It's a quick-reading business story about a radio talk show host that is superb at interviewing guests--but doesn't know what he doesn't know about the four styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. (They correspond to the four styles of Drivers, Expressives, Amiables and Analyticals--as described in the People Bucket in my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit.)

Plus, there's a bonus insight on how to listen (culled from the talk show host's years of interviewing). That section alone is golden. Step 1: Tell me about...; Step 2: Signposts; Step 3: Brief inserts; Step 4: Pause; and Step 5: Summarize. Read that chapter and you'll never listen the same way again. Guaranteed.

Before you pass on this book, ask yourself:
1. Can I describe the behavioral styles of my boss and four people I supervise or work with? Which person is the best listener? Why?
2. What would happen if I became really, really proficient at understanding both the effective traits and the ineffective traits of my boss?

The Great Connection turned out to be The Great Captivator! I'm one of those who enjoys 'stretching' a good book over time, but I just couldn't put this one down from the moment I dove into the first chapter. Four hours later, I sat back amazed that I had read this book cover to cover in one sitting and, not only enjoyed a great story, but discovered some very important life lessons. The author has done a tremendous job weaving insightful information into a page-turning story.

If you have a pulse, you'll love this book!

I don't know if the other reviewers know DISC or not. If they do, it's hard to believe their high praise for this book. If you are looking to learn about the DISC, this is a terrible book. Everything it teaches about DISC could be condensed to a few pages. The rest is the novel.

If you are trying to get a teenager to read a book about different types of people, it's adequate but still, there is so much story they may not follow the key points well.

The best thing about this book is you can read the whole thing in about two hours. I don't like his other books either for the same reason, lot's of story and very little information. To be fair, if this is your very first DISC book, it could be a very, very easy introduction.

The book is exactly what I wanted. It was easy to order and was delivered quickly. there are a lot of reat ideas that our management team is going to put into place to better motivate our employees and create a better environment where everyone is a winner