Connect

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

A transformative guide to building more fulfilling relationships with colleagues, friends, partners, and family, based on the landmark Interpersonal Dynamics ("Touchy Feely") course at Stanford's Graduate School of Business


The ability to create strong relationships with others is crucial to living a full life and becoming more effective at work. Yet many of us find ourselves struggling to build solid personal and professional connections, or unable to handle challenges that inevitably arise when we grow closer to others. When we find ourselves in an exceptional relationship--the kind of relationship where we feel fully understood and supported for who we are--it can seem like magic. But the truth is that the process of building and sustaining these relationships can be described, learned, and applied.

David Bradford and Carole Robin taught interpersonal skills to MBA candidates for a combined seventy-five years in their legendary Stanford Graduate School of Business course Interpersonal Dynamics (affectionately known to generations of students as "Touchy Feely") and have coached and consulted to hundreds of executives for decades.

In Connect, they show readers how to take their relationships from shallow to exceptional, along the way offering time-tested strategies for giving feedback, negotiating boundaries, and working through disagreements. Through stories of people navigating tricky moments in relationships--all based on real dynamics Bradford and Robin have witnessed or experienced--we see the six hallmarks of an exceptional relationship in action: authenticity, vulnerability, honesty, a willingness to ask for and offer help, a shared commitment to growth, and an ability to deal productively with conflict.

Filled with relatable scenarios and research-backed insights, Connect will be an important resource for anyone hoping to improve existing relationships and build new ones at any stage of life.

© David L. Bradford, Carole Robin 2021(P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

  • ‘I can’t believe how much I learned about myself and about how others see the world’; ‘I feel so much better equipped to create the kinds of relationships I want in my life’; ‘Worth the entire price of admission’; ‘This course changed my life; it was transformational’

    Previous students of 'Interpersonal Dynamics'
  • Revelatory

    The Times
  • Carole and David are masters at helping people bring IQ and EQ together to satisfy both and be successful. I recommend this book

    Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater and author of NYT No.1 bestseller 'Principles'
  • At Stanford’s business school, the most popular course isn’t tech or entrepreneurship-it’s a class on interpersonal dynamics that’s affectionately known as Touchy-Feely. David Bradford and Carole Robin created the course, and their book is the next best thing to taking it. It’s full of thoughtful, actionable advice on showing vulnerability, setting healthy boundaries, earning and restoring trust, handling feedback and conflict, and building and strengthening relationships

  • It’s never been clearer that meaningful relationships are critical to a fulfilling and healthy life. Connect is a practical and timely book I highly recommend that shows us that by learning to connect with ourselves, we can more easily connect with others and build thriving relationships

    Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global
  • Relationships are crucial to our happiness, and David Bradford and Carole Robin have spent decades teaching grateful students about them. This wide-ranging book, which builds on their famous course, will help anyone make their relationships exceptional, whether at home or in the workplace, and help them to lead better, more fulfilled lives. Connect is really valuable for everyone

    Julia Samuel, author of Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass

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