Genre: Non-fiction, human psychology
I had piled
up too many books already when I first saw this book in a local bookshop, that’s
why I didn’t stack it up immediately. With time, I forgot about it until I came
across this book many times again in bookshops and in my social media feed. At
first, honestly, I wasn’t quite interested in the subject – understanding human
behavior by categorizing people into four colors sounded primary and cliché.
But I also didn’t want to miss out on anything that could be new for me. I
think you cannot be sure of the contents until you read the first few chapters
of a book. That’s why, I finally decided to read it.
The author Thomas Erikson is a behavioral expert from Sweden who is into this business since many years. Human psychology and human behavior are two different subjects associated with the study of human mind which are popularly considered the same. The author points out the subtle difference in these two streams which also forms the foundation of the book.
(Psychology specifically
looks after the science behind human behavior and mental processes; it points
out the ‘why’ behind any behavior. And behavioral science studies the
interactions between different humans and can include examples from the field
of psychology, anthropology, religious studies, philosophy and more.)
This book is based on one such behavioral model called the DISA which is a slightly modified version of the DISC model of behavioral profiling developed by a company called TTI Success Insights which is still in use by businesses and corporations from around the world.
DISC stands for Dominance, Inspiration, Submission, and Compliance, whereas in DISA ‘C’ is simply replaced by ‘A’ which means Analytical Ability. The author prefers using the DISA model. For the sake of simplicity, the author allots a color to each of these behavioral profiles that is Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. So, people with dominating traits are classified as the reds, with the inspiring attributes, who are more talkative and bad listeners are grouped as yellow, the ones with a submissive quality, and are natural followers are termed green – most of the people on earth are greens and those with an analytical approach, who love getting into the details, and because of which are infamous for missing deadlines are called the blues. Of course, there is a much more detailed explanation about the pros and cons of each behavioral or personality type in the book. The author explains that a person comprises of at least two or three colors and in less possible cases all the four colors.
As we know, no single human can do all kinds of tasks perfectly – that draws my attention to the intriguing theory of multiple intelligences which I plan to explore in the time to come.
But why should anyone read this book and why it becomes important to understand behavioral profiles and attributes? Drawing your attention back to the title of the book - how often have you in your mind or in the face called someone an idiot because his ideas, methods, understanding, and actions don’t match yours? Many times, right? So, this book will just lay the foundation for you to understand your fellow humans in professional as well as personal setup a bit better and change your approach towards them.
And when I say changing
your approach, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to speak your truth, it only
means learning how to say it in front of different kinds of people so that you
are heard. An important thing to remember here is that an effective conversation
happens only by the terms of the listener. And it will never ever be possible
that everyone will agree with us all the time, or we’ll be liked by all, but
just by knowing the basic nuances of different behavioral patterns we can
surely develop an open mind in understanding that no one is actually an idiot
or bad for that matter, but that person has those traits inherently. And just
this knowledge and understanding can help us out a lot in managing individuals,
and relationships, or hiring the right people for the job, and forming close to
perfect teams for businesses. HR managers, team leads, and team workers
– freshers and seniors can certainly choose to read this book for an upgraded
perspective about the people you deal with daily. A good team comprises of
people of all ‘colors’ but it’s necessary to understand the nature of the work
before assigning it to someone, whose behavioral traits and technique would
match to the demand of the work.
This book was originally
published in Swedish language in 2014 and then in English in 2019. So far, the
book has already been translated into 36 different languages. It can be a very
good tool for all the readers to not only understand the behavioral patterns
of others but also to know more about themselves.
Let me know in the comment
section if you have read this book and how you relate to it?
Review by: Nazneen Siraj Kachwala
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