George Thompson (1)

Когато започнах да работя със затворници преди няколко години, това доведе до значителни промени в личността ми и начина, по който общувам и гледам на хората. И тия промени бяха към по-добро.

Това, на което те учи комуникацията с подобни хора в условията на затвора е show more скромност и смирение, в най-библейския смисъл на тия думи (всъщност, точно тогава почнах да разбирам за какво изобщо говори библията като ги споменава).

Разбира се, може да те научи и на друго - може да те научи да палиш лесно, да избухваш като бомба при най-малка провокация, да си груб и невъзпитан. И доста колеги са точно такива (макар че повечето не са). Освен това (не знам като причина или като резултат) са вечно недоволни мрънкалници.

Защото ако не потиснеш егото си в полза на професионализма, ако не спреш да се опитваш да се налагаш над другите като форма на самоактуализация, ако не спреш да приемаш лично неща, които са просто плод на ситуацията - само ще страдаш. Ще страдаш в конкретния момент, ще страдаш в дългосрочен план и много ще страда психичното ти здраве.

"Словесно джудо - нежното изкуство на убеждаването" не е написана за нежни хора - написана е от бивш полицай и дава примери главно от неговата полицейска работа. Човекът наистина има докторат по литература, но и черни колани по карате и джудо и не е от хората, които захаросват истината.

От професионалната си позиция, намирам написаното в книгата за изключително важно и отговарящо 100% на действителността. Конкретните реплики и техники за убеждаване и деескалиране на ситуации, които авторът дава работят и използването им е много по-подходящо (в професионален и в личностен план) от техниките за употреба на сила или от обикновеното надвикване, в 99% от ситуациите . show less

Thompson has an interesting professional biography. He earned a PhD in rhetoric, taught at a community college, decided he didn’t like academe, and went into police work. I have never met anyone who has combined police work with rhetoric, but Thompson seems to have been successful at this task.

His main content consists of teaching about rhetoric – or less pretentiously, verbal communication. However, he entertains by filling in with stories about police work, family life, and the show more business world. These illustrations bring home the art of communication into real life.

The good news is that Thompson does not come across as some high-falootin’ and out-of-touch academic. He admits that he stunk as a speaker at first and that he made many mistakes as a cop as well. In fact, he turns many of his mistakes into teaching points by connecting them with key concepts. The key to Thompson is learning and adjusting to the realities before you.

Anyone interested in improving their communication style will appreciate this fast read. Further, those who work in police work might be particularly interested. Thompson and the company he started ran training sessions nationally based on his acumen. Unfortunately for us, Thompson died several years ago; fortunately, he wrote this book before he died. We can all learn from his wisdom. show less

This book is about the fine art of using your words to persuade others to comply to your wishes in a professional setting though the author mentions that his tips can be used by anyone in any setting. It is definitively intended for law enforcement personnel so the persuasion part is aimed at getting others to do what you want with as little hassle as possible. The ethics of this in other settings may vary. The author does do a few things that to me are questionable however.
He does equate show more ethics solely with professionalism and focuses alot on empathy in a wholly utilitarian light. It's simply another tool to use in your manipulation of another person. This callousness does permeate the book as does its repetitiveness. This book didn't really need to be just over 200 pages.
Overall I'm glad I read it but I'm really not sure if I'd ever recommend this to anybody. I do have to admit he does have some good points but he also kept referring to samurai and kung fu masters to the point of cheesiness. show less

Solid in terms of the information presented. Clear. Too familiar. I wanted it to be more. The main new information for me was the persuasive hard style. Ethical, reasoned, personal, practical if I remember correctly. Good introductory text. Can be skipped if you have read other books in this vein like Dale Carnegie or Stephen Covey.