Carole Robin

I came into Connect thinking "This is really powerful. This is really good." I came out of it wondering what exactly I'd learned. Robin and Bradford are two of the minds behind one of the most popular courses at the Stanford Business School, Interpersonal Dynamics, loving referred to as "touchy-feely".

The idea is that a lot of relationships we have are shallow and not particularly satisfying. We can have better ones by being authentic, vulnerable, and not making assumptions about what other show more people are feeling. The examples, using both invented dialog and the author's experiences, are quite good. Issues include being talked over at work, marriages that are floundering on changes in career and parenting, aging parents who prefer solutions to emotional openness, and friendships that are on the rocks due to life changes.

I think the key points are not to let emotional 'pinches' build into crises, and to stay on your side of the net and not make assumptions about other's motivations. It's good advice, but hard to apply in a real world where your own emotions are unclear, others can be predatory, and the need to save face is constant. show less

A qualified "pick" for this one. It's better than most self-helpy books, and I appreciate how much variety they offer in their examples, including examples of relationships that maybe aren't destined to become "exceptional," but the example dialogues feel somewhat contrived and biased towards a particular way of living life (full-time career, going for drinks with friends) that feels a little limiting. And right now my difficulty is with establishing friendships rather than growing them, so show more the utility of the suggestions for me is less than it might be for someone else. There's also a misattributed quote at the very beginning of the book that felt sloppy to me and probably colored my experience of the book as a whole. show less

A small but quite a good read. Reinforces the VIEW (vulnerability, impartial, empathy, wonder) way of life deep and personal connect with people who matter to us.

A number of good points but could have been significantly condensed.