I like a good book on communications so I was pleased to receive this from a Goodreads giveaway. While this book's main focus was on inculcating open, honest and direct communication within a group from the leader's perspective, I always find that as a team member, I can also gain insights from this kind of text.I read this on two legs of a cross-country, multi-state work trip, and I really took to heart the chapter on effective listening. We're all aware of the edict that we work on active listening. But despite knowing this, Open, Honest, and Direct gave me a very explicit instruction to listen to what my inner dialogue was doing when I was supposed to be listening. Sorry friends and co-workers, I have not done a good job. My inner dialogue runs from trying to race ahead the speaker to the point, to trying to figure out what I am going to have for dinner.This book's real strength lies not in its content as much as it's design. See, Aaron Levy openly talks about what a waste multi-day seminars are that teach teach teach without any application. So Levy lays out the principles, then discusses how to put those into practice, but then MOST importantly, talks about the reflection that is needed for continuous improvement of these principles in action. This is where most leaders fail. I've encountered so many managers who know all the right buzz words to describe how a working environment should function, but they are terrible at actually practicing the principles they espouse.
3.5/5 Stars.
This book is a must read. It's quick, but not painless. It's simple, but also difficult. Why? Because it forces the reader to ask some tough questions about their relationships and their behavior. While it may look like a business book (and it is), the lessons and implications inside pertain to much more than just work life. It's hard to just distill this down and feel like I'm doing the book justice, but essentially, we are either "in the box" or "out of the box" when it comes to dealing with others. When we are in the box we see others as objects and not as people. Once we are in the box, we harbor a lot of self-justifying beliefs in order to remain in the box, which in turn, invites others to be in the box toward us. This ends up creating a pretty bad environment all around. So how do we get out of the box? It's simple and it's not. Being out of the box is not a behavior but a state of mind. And see this all sounds confusing because you haven't read the book and you don't know what "the box" is. But read the book and you'll figure it out.
5/5 Stars
