Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 661 ratings

Price: 15.75

Last update: 02-25-2025


About this item

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

“Carole Robin and David Bradford are masters at helping people bring IQ and EQ together to satisfy both and be successful.” (Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater and author of Principles: Life and Work)

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 in which 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 75 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 hundreds of executives for decades. In Connect, they show listeners how to take their relationships from shallow to exceptional by cultivating authenticity, vulnerability, and honesty, while being willing to ask for and offer help, share a commitment to growth, and deal productively with conflict.

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

*This audiobook includes a PDF of graphics and appendices.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Tony L
    5.0 out of 5 stars Find your own Touchy-feely epiphany!
    Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2021
    Full disclosure, I have been an adherent of lessons gained from Stanford Business School's Interpersonal Dynamics class — widely-known as "Touchy-feely" — since I was privileged enough to take it as a student in the 1990s. And, I have been a big Carole and David fan for almost as many years as a colleague, friend, and co-conspirator in spreading the word on building exceptional relationships.

    The challenge of capturing for the benefit of a wider audience the experiential learning essence gained from the course or related forums (e.g., Leaders in Tech's Intensive Programs & Retreats, where Carole is a Co-founder) seemed not just daunting, but near impossible. But after reading CONNECT, it's abundantly clear that Carole and David have found ways to make accessible to all the core tenets of their life's work. Though clear presentation of frameworks and guidelines; powerful anecdotes; exemplary, thought-provoking storytelling; and essential exercises that help a reader put into practice what the authors espouse, the magic that has generated relational epiphanies for so many Touchy-feely participants over the years is there for the realizing.

    Feedback is a gift? Yes, indeed! And so are David Bradford and Carole Robin for sharing their wisdom and insights with all of us in CONNECT. As you already no doubt surmise, I strongly recommend this book for anyone in search of greater interpersonal effectiveness.
  • Tom S.
    5.0 out of 5 stars How to become more influential and effective
    Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2021
    I was already a Carole Robin fan, but I was skeptical that all she has to teach could somehow be condensed into a book. I was completely wrong -- this is a powerful book. It manages to summarize a host of important concepts around how to access and communicate feelings, how to build and strengthen relationships, and how to use those skills to be more influential and effective. The book bring these concepts alive with stories and scenarios, and shows how they can be applied to both professional and personal life.

    I've used the concepts in these books and they've had a hugely positive impact on my life. Through some of my toughest times, they've helped me understand and process my feelings, and become vulnerable with family and friends in a way that felt safe and brought me closer to them. They've also helped me build stronger working relationships, demonstrating the power of vulnerability even in a professional setting. And that's coming from someone who just a few years ago would've thought it was crazy to talk about my feelings at work.

    It's rare that a book has the potential to be transformative and life-changing, and I'd put this book in that category.
  • Chez GKY
    4.0 out of 5 stars In-depth guide to enhancing (most) relationships
    Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2022
    Bradford and Robin's Connect provides readers with a framework to enhance relationships with just about anyone. The book starts with the basics, defining what exactly deepens relationships (making yourself known) and detailing how to start doing so (15% rule). The meat of the book focuses on making the most out of very ordinary relationship matters: engaging others, dealing with emotion, providing feedback, breaking stalemates, and resolving conflict, and channeling these efforts towards richer relationships rather than damaged ones.

    To make things easier to understand, the authors employ fictional characters with their own unique relational conflicts and walk the reader through the stages of resolution. Acknowledging that situations are not always perfect, however, the book also provides scenarios where the other party is unwilling to engage in a positive interaction and offers ways to deal with such cases.

    Each chapter ends with an actionable section providing things to try with a select few relationships you want enhanced, which the book asks you to identify from the start. I wasn't able to make the most out of this, unfortunately.

    Despite not having the chance to immediately apply learnings at the end of each chapter, my takeaways from Connect have allowed me to reframe my interactions with others (stay on my side of the net) and reap the benefits of more productive interactions. Not everyone will be as receptive as the fictional characters in the book, of course, but most interactions will have room for application.

    Connect affords readers a piece of the learnings from GSB's Interpersonal Dynamics course, from which it is based, and offers a change in mindset well worth the time and effort for a read or two (making use of actionable sections the second time around).
  • Orwell
    5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable resource to improve your social skills and enhance relationships
    Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2023
    "Connect" is an insightful and practical guide to building meaningful relationships in both personal and professional settings. Carole and David draw on their extensive experience as Stanford Business School professors to provide readers with a framework for creating authentic connections, overcoming communication barriers, and resolving conflicts. With its engaging storytelling and actionable advice, the book is a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their social skills and enhance their relationships. Highly recommended for anyone seeking to cultivate more meaningful connections in their life.
  • Michael Ovadia
    5.0 out of 5 stars Written by masters for mastery
    Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2022
    Robin and Bradford have written a truly masterful, accessible book to help relationships evolve in their self-aware, relationship health, and frankly ability to function. As someone who took Stanford's "Touchy Feely" book, I was struck by the book's ability to make the class' life-changing curriculum come alive in concrete, practical ways. I work in organizational consulting today -- and this is a must read for teams that want to work together in a meaningful, healthy way.

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