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Surrounded by Idiots

  • Thomas Erikson

4.07

29 ratings

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.

Genres

  • Sociology
  • Communication, social aspects
  • Communication, psychological aspects
  • Communicative competence
  • Communication in organizations
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About the author

  • Thomas Erikson

    4.15

    46 ratings · 26 works

Editions

  • Edition cover

    Revised and Expanded Edition

    St. Martin's Press

    2025

  • Edition cover

    Penguin

    4 June 2014

  • Edition cover

    Aguilar Ocio

    2017

  • Edition cover

    Penguin Random House

    2019

Edition cover

St. Martin's Essentials

Oct 06, 2020

  • Edition cover

    St. Martin's Essentials

    Jul 30, 2019

  • Edition cover

    St. Martin's Essentials

    Jul 30, 2019

  • Edition cover

    St. Martin's Press

    2019

  • Edition cover

    Ebury Publishing

    2019