Chris’s Pick
March, 2024
Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life)
Thomas Erikson
St. Martin’s Essentials Press
After interviewing a successful CEO who was convinced he was “surrounded by idiots”, 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” explains a method for assessing the personalities of people we communicate with, based on four key human behaviors that define how we interact with, and how we perceive each other. Erikson says in a perfect world every working scenario would include all four personality types. The Yellow (Inspiring) personality would come up with the project idea, Red (Dominant) would make the decisions and delegate tasks, the Green (Stable) personality would execute the plan, and Blue (Analytical) would supervise for quality control.
However, since it would be nearly impossible to find a situation with perfectly balanced personality types, Erikson suggests we learn to understand how best to communicate with each other.
A brief synopsis of each color:
Red Personalities are ambitious, aggressive, strong-willed, controlling; they are the “alpha” in the room. To communicate with a Red you must be sincere and direct; Reds hate beating around the bush and are uninterested in “small talk” when trying to accomplish something.
Yellow Personalities are talkative, creative, persuasive, and optimistic. Social beings, Yellows do not like to be isolated, or surrounded by negative energy. They are most receptive if you are open and friendly.
Green Personalities are patient, friendly, reliable, thoughtful team players, but have minimal interest in change. Greens like privacy, and don’t care to be in the spotlight. They also may have fragile egos, and don’t respond well to a sudden change in plans.
Blue Personalities are conscientious, analytical, conventional, logical, and questioning. Detail-oriented, have your facts and arguments prepared beforehand when communicating with a Blue.
The idea of four distinctive behavior types is far from a new concept. This same hypothesis can be traced back, for example, to Hippocrates, who categorized the personality types into sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic. The Aztecs offered Fire, Air, Water, and Earth to define behavior. In the 20th century, the “DISA system” was developed by Walter Marston (Dominance, Inspiration, Stability, and Analytic ability). Erikson has simplified the four behaviors into Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. Throughout history, the four categories remain nearly identical.
Erikson is quick to explain that it is a truly rare person who is just one behavior type. Eighty percent of people are two types; a small percentage three types.
This book is a far cry from what I would normally choose to review in this forum. Designed for human resource workers and managers within the workplace, it seems an unusual fit for me.
But, in fact, I think the book is a great tool for both self-awareness and for learning to perceive the dynamics within groups we associate with. With my own extended family, we often shake our heads and exclaim “I can’t believe how different we are!” The differences, it turns out, are not in our values or principles, but in our innate behavior profiles. Any book that can have me step back and reassess, allowing for some understanding of, and better communication with, people I love is worth the read for me.