Customer Rating: 
Summary: One of my top 10 favorite business books
Comment: Almost all business communication guides give us the "how" of speaking and writing. This book gives us the "what," by portraying forty-four types of bosses, employees, coworkers, and customers, and advising us on what to say to each. It's on the short list of recommended resources in my book The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Business Writing and Communication.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Just spent [price]to be told to "play nice."
Comment: I have read (and re-read) this book and only find more contradictions the more I read. For example, the authors say that behaviors come from our attitudes and that while attitudes look like "the best target" to alter they aren't because it's really the offensive behavior that you are out to alter. They go on to say on the next page that "we identify people rather than behavior as the problem" - "there are no problem performers only problem performances." Hmmmm. Didn't we just say on the last page that our behavior (hence our performance) is based on our attitudes? I guess the performance > behaviors > attitudes thing is not a two-way street! This book is really about changing YOUR behaviors around the "44" challenging types. I walked away from this book feeling like I had been given a huge laundry list of things not to do or say to these 44 types (as it might offend them or stress them out) and only a short list of weak options, at best, that had any impact on really changing their behavior. The sum of this book: be considerate of others and play nice -eventually they will treat you like a human being....
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very helpful IF you can face your own quirks too
Comment: I needed a book to help me with my supervisor, whom after 11 years working together successfully, was not responding to any communication attempts by me. (She is an Ostrich...according to the book) I did not like the title of the book since it sounded manipulative, however, I was very glad I picked it up to see the contents. I used the "plan" on her and finally felt I had control. You can't change another person, but you can change your approach with that person. The outlines are easy to read and quickly tell you what won't work, what to try, and what to do if that doesn't work. It is not exhaustive, however, it offers a excellent starting point...which was all I really needed.
Suggestion: Buy the book, Scan through the second half of the book first to find the most relevant personality/traits. Read about that personality and go back to the front of the book to continue reading about that personality. (footnote type numbers lead you to the proper place in the front of the book)
I finally read the entire book and had some flattering and not so flattering realizations of myself which I have been addressing.
I think this book helped me get a promotion (away from that supervisor). My director saw the way I handled a no-win situation successfully. (I never told him or anyone else about the book.)
ljs
Customer Rating:
Summary: Helpful for anyone in a corporate setting
Comment: Although the title is somewhat misleading, this is a pretty good book for anyone working in a corporate environment. A more accurate title for this book would have been "How to communicate effectively with different types of people in your organization", because that's exactly what this book may help you to do. Anyone experiencing "communication problems" in their organization could benefit from the examples and suggestions provided by Deep and Sussman. I especially recommend this book for anyone working in the Human Resource department and anyone else with coaching or counseling responsibilities. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me - adamleft@webspan.net.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment!
Comment: I really wanted to like this book and tried chapter after chapter to offer the benefit of the doubt. But, as pages turned, I found more contradictory statements and words of advice than anything else. For example, the authors teach that managers should not use the word "you" when confronting fellow workers. Then, on page 85, the authors suggest handling "snake" personalities by saying: "I know what YOU did." Similarly, the authors state that managers should shift their verbage from "what do you want" to "why do you want it?" However, on page 84, the authors suggest asking difficult colleagues the question of "what is it you would like me to do?" To end positively, I will say that the book offers very good examples of well-recognized office behaviors. The text would be so much more effective if the authors had consisently reinforced their positions on subjects, which they suggest in chapter five as a professional behavior we all should practice religiously.
