One of the best books I've ever read

It is full of life changing advice. I loved it from cover to cover. Fully recommended.

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The Best Book I’ve Read This Year

I almost didn’t read this book. I’ve had so much coaching over the years that I felt I’d done feedback back to death but the recommendation I’d been given meant I at least had to commit to an hour if only to be able to prove myself right. Now I should start with a warning, this book reveals itself as you work through and practising its methods prematurely can back fire as I found out during an argument with my wife. Armed with some early chapters in the book I said that are argument was actually two separate issues and that we should separate them and deal with them separately - which would you like to take first? Don’t try that approach. It doesn’t end well! As I progressed with the book I came to question whether its title underplayed its role and I came to view it as giving wonderful advice not just about feedback but about how to have better conversations. Its range of stories help to put the content of the book in context and I even listened to the part on mindset with my 16 year old son who seemed to accept its advice far more readily than my own. I have subsequently bought the hard copy and am sure I’ll revisit it regularly.

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This book should be mandatory read in schools

The best book I’ve read this year. So many great ideas and tips about feedback receiving. The world would be so much better if everyone read/listened to this book.

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Extremely easy to listen to and digest.

I really likes the use of 2 narrators. It always adds authenticity when the authors narrate. Extremely insightful, applicable and well structured content. The tone is funny and lighthearted, which makes the advice easier to accept - great modelling!

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Exceptional

This is really an exceptional book.

My usual complaint is that books of this genre are typically single ideas that fit on one page, inexplicably 400 times longer. This also is on a single idea - receiving feedback better - but somehow they've cracked it where so many others have failed. Maybe it's that the topic itself is so much bigger than getting up at 5am or turning off your email notifications or some other bollocks clamoring for 10 hours of your time, that the references and stories add rather than subtract.

There really is a lot of think about here and plenty to put into practice. It's ten hours long but it must have taken me fifteen because I kept pausing it to write notes. I jotted down 5,000 words in the end. The dog was not impressed, until she discovered she was free to eat horse poo without me noticing.

Sets of three abound: "here are three tools to...", "three types of...", "three common misconceptions about...", etc. Everything consistently orbits the central topic of feedback though so all this frameworking feels valuable and original even when it's derived from the work of others. The last two chapters, actioning feedback and enacting feedback systems in organisations, do drift into the generic but the first twelve chapters are rich with insights and practical pointers.

The tone of voice is down to earth and the style of writing quietly funny in places. They share the reading and do a good job.

All in all, I absolutely loved this. A real contribution to the genre and in my top five for the year.

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impact from the first chapter

Really helped from teh first chapter. practical examples, easy to follow and real results.

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A book that encourages and empowers :)

This audiobook is 1 of 2 books that I've finished in the same month of downloading. The authors' style encourages commitment to regular listening as you start to see life differently. The beginning can be a bit tough on the ego, hang in there and you may find valuable perspective by the time you reach the final chapter :) I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I have.

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Necessary reading for everyone on the planet

Superb book. It’s saved me from confrontation and upset numerous times already. There’s so much in here that you should be prepared for most situations, and you DON’T, need to be in leadership to benefit, because, as the title, suggests, most of the skill is in receiving, not giving. Loved it :-)

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Great content let down by poor narration.

In terms of the quality of the content, this is a book I feel I could come back to time and again and still get value. However, the audio book is badly let down by the mumbled delivery of the male narrator. His female colleague is great, clear and easy to understand. Mr Mumbles on the other hand will have you cracking up the volume just to try and understand what he's saying.

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Read if you can, great book, poor audio

There are lots of useful tips and ideas in here which are not only relevent for you career but also for you personal life. Feedback is something that everone struggles to both give a receive from time to time. This book helps put things in perspective. Unfortunately the narrator is quite monotonous and the rhythm is poor, it was really hard to know when a new point was being made or chapter started. It either got better towards the end or I acclimatised, however, if you have opportunity I would read this rather than listen to the audio book.

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2 people found this helpful