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Surrounded by Idiots
A review of

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 Press • 2020

Chameleon Communication

by Sara Küpfer

In this international bestseller, communication expert Thomas Erikson set about trying to understand why certain types of people rub us the wrong way and what to do about it.

Behavioral psychologists have come up with various models to classify human personality types. At their best, psychometric tests can help team members understand and appreciate each other better. At their worst, these personality assessments lead to baseless generalizations and, if applied incorrectly, limit opportunities unfairly. 

In the workplace, the Myers-Briggs model is the most widely applied. The Enneagram offers another framework for classifying different personalities. Both models, however, make it hard to keep different personality types straight. Myers-Briggs classifies humans into 16 different personality types; the Enneagram into nine.

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