Review: Great Book on Assertiveness! Good Read!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 9, 2012
I have to say I really liked this book. I've always been shy and afraid to ruffle any feathers, so I was never very assertive and have gotten walked over all my life. Now that I'm older (not saying how much) I am on a path of change. I started reading books and articles on assertiveness. Many of them gave hokey advice that I knew I would never follow in real life. But this book actually gave real step-by-step instructions and true to life demonstrations.I'm glad it started off detailing the differences between assertive and aggressive. It's easy to go from one extreme to the other when you're starting out. This book helped me stay on an even keel. It also talked about passiveness, which can be just as bad as aggression.I also really liked that the first chapter begins with a self-test, which made me look at myself in a new light and really pay attention to some character flaws that I didn't notice. Things like not looking people in the eye are more important than I may have thought. Did you know people take that as a sign of lying? I didn't. After the test the book goes into a short "Bill of Rights" which I found very helpful. The whole point of being more assertive is to assert your rights. Helps to know what they are!I won't tell you everything about the book, because I really recommend reading it. But there are so many tips and scenarios in this book. It talks about posture and body language, way more than just the eye contact I said before. There are even specific words and phrases to use when you're trying to be assertive. It's helped me so much in my personal and professional life.The second to last chapter I thought was the best of all because they looked to the future. The author talks about how the global economy is changing already, toward a consumer based system. Customer service is very important to companies now, more than ever before. So being an assertive buyer, without being aggressive, can really help us be treated better.I really do think that people can benefit from reading this book. Even if you think you know everything you need to know, there are tips in here that I'd never thought of. And I've been reading everything on assertiveness for a while.