Book Review: People Skills: How To Assert Yourself, Listen To Others, And Resolve Conflicts

This book review is part of a series that covers the topic of Communication Skills, the tools and methods to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of an exchange of information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior. Meryl Runion is the Official Guide to Communication Skills.nnPeople Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts is a valuable resource for people interested in Communication Skills, and it is available through Amazon.com.nnBook DescriptionnnA wall of silent resentment shuts you off from someone you love....You listen to an argument in which neither party seems to hear the other....Your mind drifts to other matters when people talk to you....nnPeople Skills is a communication-skills handbook that can help you eliminate these and other communication problems. Author Robert Bolton describes the twelve most common communication barriers, showing how these "roadblocks" damage relationships by increasing defensiveness, aggressiveness, or dependency. He explains how to acquire the ability to listen, assert yourself, resolve conflicts, and work out problems with others. These are skills that will help you communicate calmly, even in stressful emotionally charged situations.nnPeople Skills will show younn* How to get your needs met using simple assertion techniquesnn* How body language often speaks louder than wordsnn* How to use silence as a valuable communication toolnn* How to de-escalate family disputes, lovers' quarrels, and other heated argumentsnnBoth thought-provoking and practical, People Skills is filled with workable ideas that you can use to improve your communication in meaningful ways, every day.nnAbout the AuthornRobert Bolton, Ph.D., is president of Ridge Consultants in Cazenovia, New York, a firm that specializes in improving human performance in industry, health care, education, and government. His staff has taught communication skills to thousands of managers, salespersons, first-line supervisors, secretaries, customer-relations personnel, teachers, members of the clergy, health-care workers, couples, and others.