World Linker

Shannon Gaw:

Review by Shannon Gaw for People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts
Rating:
“People Skills” is a primer on interacting with others. Bolton’s premise is that our communication patterns are inherently faulty and he urges the reader adopt his framework to remedy. He presents – in order – listening skills, assertion skills, conflict-resolution skills, and collaborative problem solving skills, with each building upon the others. He blends keen insight into human nature, concepts of psychology and basic Judeo-Christian values into what appears to be a very effective methodology. The skills seem obvious, but in practice are rarely used, and in fact are rather uncomfortable when trying to start using.I found Bolton’s framework very valuable and thus far see its application can profoundly improve my own people skills in both a business and parental setting. Unfortunately, like most books of this type, the text is extremely verbose. Bolton possesses a style that is much less dry and wordy than many of his peers – in fact, I find it difficult to finish most of these types of books – but the ideas plus examples could have been distilled down to one-half the length of the 300 pages. The text is also very well referenced and footnoted, but – as a lay reader – I think the constant crediting other psychologists and philosophers confuse and muddy the message. This could be a book that one could return to periodically to refresh their skills, but its length will prevent the less diligent. I found myself taking detailed notes on each chapter for later referral; while a testament to the material, I wish the author had made it easier to digest.

D. Grendahl:

Review by D. Grendahl for People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts
Rating:
I have more books than I can count on all of my appendages regarding communication & relationships. I use them all, but this one book has pulled it all togther for me showing me that my problem really boils down to my not being ‘assertive.’ I grew up in a religous family and was taught that I must always take care of others before myself…that anger was bad, etc. I now ‘see’ it clearly for what it is and health is now coming back to my being. I’ve purchased two of these books and use one to loan out to others. If I thought it would do any good, I’d get one for each member of my family, but the saying holds true, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.” Too bad.

Miriam:

Review by Miriam for People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts
Rating:
Bolton does a good job of teaching communication strategies. He identifies “high risk” responses — words that put up barriers between people and lead to resentment and anger. He also discusses the art of reflective listening, reading body language, and, finally, assertiveness. He correctly states that being assertive will, on occasion, bring you into conflict with others. The book instructs you on how to deftly handle conflict and defensiveness. This is where the tough skills of listening and communicating come into play. Bolton’s writing style is steady and clear, but not especially lively. That makes the book somewhat of a chore to read, despite the good information contained therein. I would give it 5 stars for content alone, but 3 stars for presentation. Odd, in fact, that a book on communication fails to maintain an interesting tone.

Jack Reader:

Review by Jack Reader for Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)
Rating:
Talk about efficive. This book has increased my comunication effictiveness 110%. The articles are very inciteful. Before I read this book my meetings went terrible. I was rarely a project lead. This book showed me how terribily incompetant I really was. The book Effective Comunications completly undressed me. Then, I let its articals dress me with confidence. People pay attention in my meetings and they are productive in a new way.

Anonymous:

Review by for Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)
Rating:
I already own five of the paperbacks in the Harvard Business Review series. The articles in it are really state-of-the-art in the field the book is about. And so it is in the case of the Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication. I appreciate the chance to read what the most important authors have to say in short articles, not in long books. The articles are long enough to understand and give many good ideas worth working on.