Customer Reviews

PeopleSmart: Developing Your Interpersonal Intelligence

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

PeopleSmart is a plain English, how-to book on improving your interpersonal skills. It helped me discover exactly where my people skills are lacking and then taught me how to improve these areas. I was able to use what I learned in both my work and personal relationships. As a matter of fact, after reading just a few chapters and having my eyes opened, I successfully resolved a conflict with a colleague that had actually been keeping me awake at night. I'm an academic that's skeptical of quick fix advice not supported by research, but bored by esoteric ramblings. PeopleSmart struck the right balance. Enjoy the experience.

I am a teacher on Communication Skills, and Peoplesmart is the best resource out there. It is well-organized and easy to use. It is not a passive book, but gets the reader actively involved in learning and practicing effective people skills. It's a fabulous resource for the workplace, but also has applications for home and personal relationships. I have never met anyone who couldn't use tips for resolving conflicts, expressing oneself, and influencing others. This book is great on its own, or can be combined with the workshops offered to really bring home these tremendous people skills, communications, and interaction effectivenenss. Everyone should have this resource, not on their shelf, but in their hands!

Self-help books are a dime a dozen, but this one is different - it doesn't promise a quick fix. Instead it lays out a systematic program for enhancing one of the most important skills of all, the ability to be effective in dealing with other people. The authors describe their approach as an interpersonal intelligence workout program. It describes in clear, understandable language the eight critical PeopleSmart skills, then provides a step-by-step program for practicing them. These skills are applicable in all aspects of interpersonal relations -at home, on the job, and even when dealing with a cranky store clerk. This is not a book about manipulating others to get what you want, but rather about bringing out the best in people. Learning to apply this principle is the key to the PeopleSmart approach

This is an amazing book. Everything you ever wanted to know about how to communicate and collaborate more effectively. "Peoplesmart" contains more comprehensive information than any book I've seen on the subject, and presents it in clear language with practical exercises and tips. In addition, "Peoplesmart" does an excellent job of acknowledging that communication is hard. We all have our issues. This book does not assume that we are all the same, or that we will change just by reading a text. How nice it is to feel so respected as a reader and human being.

Peoplesmart: Developing Your Interpersonal Intelligence by Mel Silberman is a wonderful resource that has helped me to focus on communication difficulties and generate creative solutions. Mel Silberman's insightful and witty style makes this book an easy-read and a resource that I will turn to again and again.

Having read other books by Dr. Silberman, I was excited to see the latest book PeopleSmart. PeopleSmart provides useful ways to develop interpersonal skills that are essential in the workplace. I gained insight into my own style and the ways I can begin to enhance my interactions with others both in my personal life and professionally. The arrangement of the material made it easy to absorb and immediately apply to my life. The book is a valuable resource given that interpersonal skills are so essential.

The author outlines 8 useful and neccessary skills to become People Smart:

1)Understanding People. Author provides a succinct explaination and usefulness of MBTI indicators such as ENTP.
2)Expressing yourself clearly. I didn't find this chapter too useful. As long as you speak clearly and choose your words carefully, you are at least a decent speaker.
3)Asserting your needs. Useful only to for those who can't assert themselves).
4)Exchanging feedback
5)Influencing Others. This is the best chapter by far. Influencing others involve making a connection and figuring out what their needs are (security, acceptance, ego, self actualization) and then making a persuasion in align with their needs.
6)Resolving Conflict. This is only if you argue with people all the time.
7)Being a team player.
8)Shifting Gears.

Practical, engaging and personal, PeopleSmart is a book that delivers on it's promises. For every situation, there is a PeopleSmart answer. Individuals, teams and organizations will value the lessons in each chapter of this book. If you have been baffled by others' behavior, you will find strategies for survival in the 'Understanding People' chapter, my personal favorite. The authors of this book articulate complex themes in easy to understand methods. It is a motivating read! This book combines the best in performance improvement training, with cutting edge psychological awareness. And, it does so with such fluidity, you will want to keep reading, and trying new methods! It's amazing how much I have referred to this book in my consulting practice...and how WELL the solutions have worked!

Silberman and Hansburg have put together an easy-to-read handbook on one of life's great challenges --improving interpersonal relationships. The authors take many volumes worth of relationship theory and distill it into eight specific skill sets. The authors' practical, how-to approach is reinforced with a people quotient rating scale, individual skill-building exercises, and loads of examples. A must read for for all the improtant people in your life!

I did not finish the book - it is more like a 'workbook' than a book. I was hoping to get some insight into how to deal with people in the workplace - this book is full of material that I consider to be common sense. Little emperical or formal evidence is offered.
I suggest 'The Secret Handshake' by Kathleen Kelley Reardon for readers interested in improving their polical skills in a business setting.
That's my take - loopster - Chicago, IL