Both books read and compared on purpose, model, length and audience. A clear recommendation on which one to open first, and which problem each book actually solves.

The colours come from DISC, the validity is not there, and the labelling does more damage than the theory. I still recommend the book, with two rules attached about how to use it.

The sharpest pair in Erikson’s model, worked through a deadline where one person wanted a decision and the other wanted the right number. Includes the three-sentence deal that stops the clash repeating.

Four signals that sort a colour in ten minutes: how someone opens a meeting, answers a question, uses silence and reacts to a change of plan. Plus the three things that will fool you, starting with hierarchy in an Indian office.

Seven specific changes, from putting the ask in the first line to giving people a date instead of saying soon. Office scenes from India, and no grand claims about anyone becoming easy to work with.

Red is dominance, yellow is influence, green is stability and blue is compliance. What each colour is like at work, what stresses them and how to talk to them, with the honest caveat that this comes from DISC and the evidence behind it is thin.

A reading of Surrounded by Idiots, not a replacement for it: the argument in five points, the four colours in one table, who the book is for and who it is not. Plus three story beats a video creator can film in sixty seconds each.