How to Get Along with Anyone
The Playbook for Predicting and Preventing Conflict at Work and at Home
Published on 27. March 2025
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-6680-3307-4 (ISBN)
Description
Defuse any heated conflict by learning which of the five conflict styles you are and how to resolve even the most sensitive dispute with this must-read guide.
The average American worker spends 156 hours a year engaged in the kind of moderate to intense workplace conflict that adversely impacts both performance and health. Managers spend twenty-six percent of their time addressing and resolving conflicts on their team-the equivalent of chewing up one full workday each week. But what if it didn't need to be like this? What if there was a way to spend less time in stressfully interpersonal interactions and more time on the things that really matter? Through three decades of building and facilitating team chemistry for Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, schools, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and families-Drs. Jim Guinn and John Eliot have reduced the time and cost of conflict resolution. With this on-the-ground experience combined with industry-leading science and research, Guinn and Eliot discovered people respond to conflict in one of five ways: avoid, compete, analyze, collaborate, or accommodate.
Because our responses are ingrained byproducts of the subcortex in action, they are predictable. If you can predict how someone will behave in a given circumstance, you can formulate a game plan. The secret is knowing which of the five patterns someone is wired to use when smacked by a stressor. How to Get Along with Anyone is a pragmatic hands-on book to help you determine conflict types so you can navigate the arguments that emerge in day-to-day life. You'll learn the formula for identifying your coworkers' and loved ones' conflict styles and how to use this information to foster better communication and more effective, collaboration.
Filled with fun, engaging examples and actionable techniques, How to Get Along with Anyone teaches you how to predict and prevent escalated conflict, arming you with practical tools for flipping the script on sticking points to nurture stronger and more meaningful relationships.
The average American worker spends 156 hours a year engaged in the kind of moderate to intense workplace conflict that adversely impacts both performance and health. Managers spend twenty-six percent of their time addressing and resolving conflicts on their team-the equivalent of chewing up one full workday each week. But what if it didn't need to be like this? What if there was a way to spend less time in stressfully interpersonal interactions and more time on the things that really matter? Through three decades of building and facilitating team chemistry for Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, schools, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and families-Drs. Jim Guinn and John Eliot have reduced the time and cost of conflict resolution. With this on-the-ground experience combined with industry-leading science and research, Guinn and Eliot discovered people respond to conflict in one of five ways: avoid, compete, analyze, collaborate, or accommodate.
Because our responses are ingrained byproducts of the subcortex in action, they are predictable. If you can predict how someone will behave in a given circumstance, you can formulate a game plan. The secret is knowing which of the five patterns someone is wired to use when smacked by a stressor. How to Get Along with Anyone is a pragmatic hands-on book to help you determine conflict types so you can navigate the arguments that emerge in day-to-day life. You'll learn the formula for identifying your coworkers' and loved ones' conflict styles and how to use this information to foster better communication and more effective, collaboration.
Filled with fun, engaging examples and actionable techniques, How to Get Along with Anyone teaches you how to predict and prevent escalated conflict, arming you with practical tools for flipping the script on sticking points to nurture stronger and more meaningful relationships.
Reviews / Votes
"Drawing on decades of experience, 'conflict docs' Eliot and Guinn provide insights and tools for conflict management among five distinct conflict-personality types....Each conflict personality type has a chapter providing in-depth exploration of various factors, allowing for greater understanding and potential for successful application in real life."-BOOKLIST "Successful teams are led by people who communicate well under pressure. How to Get Along with Anyone draws up the plays for you to do just that."
-H. Irving Grousbeck, MBA, Reigning NBA Champion Boston Celtics' Owner; Stanford Business School Professor of Organizational Behavior
"Drs. Eliot and Guinn cut right through all the unpleasantness, distractions, and baloney that get in your way when conflict arises. Flip the script in your organization; read How to Get Along with Anyone!"
-Lauren Anderson, MBA, University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business, Warsaw Sports Business Center Executive Director; Former Nike Global Partner in Consumer Experience
"When tensions rise, character is revealed. Strength in such moments lies in understanding yourself and your opponent, understanding one another. If you're ready to turn pressure into partnership and challenges into growth, How to Get Along with Anyone is a game-changer for any team or relationship."
-Steven Lopez, 2x Olympic Gold Medalist & 5x World Taekwondo Champion
"Knowing my own and others' conflict profiles will help me better prepare for possible future conflict. Thanks to the authors' insights-and engaging energy throughout-this book has increased my awareness of conflict, enhanced my communication skills, and is already paying dividends in achieving common goals between my leaders and employees without sacrificing maximum productivity or team chemistry."
-Dr. Patty Shafer, Texas Education Association & Texas State Educational Service Center, Former Director
"Outstanding! Great content; very useful for our coaches and our administrators. Conflict resolution is one of the top issues in professional sports organizations-I imagine in a wide range of competitive organizations-and, thanks to this book, I now have a deep reservoir of practical skills that I can implement quickly when faced with conflict."
-Aalum Jaffer, Toronto Raptors & Toronto Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Former Executive & Manager of Global Partnerships
"This $#!& actually works!!"
-Barbay Darrell, High School Football Coach & Athletic Director
"The skills taught in How to Get Along with Anyone are distinctly and immediately applicable thanks to the practical nature of the Docs' negotiation techniques. Thank you Doc G and Doc E for providing a new way of handling the conflicts that people face on a daily basis in my field."
-Erik Powell, Patriot Threading, Owner & Managing Partner
"How to Get Along with Anyone is an excellent set of plans and actions that are, frankly, underutilized in our current world. The Docs' fact-based and empathetic approach is both refreshing and a snap to realize the benefit from. Even applying just one chapter will enrich your office environment and enhance the dynamics of the interactions in your workplace... and at home!"
-Brandon Khala, Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., Partner
"The conflict resolution techniques delivered in this book are incredibly valuable to our profession, to our government and corporate contacts alike, throughout Mexico and Latin America. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who faces conflict."
-Jorge Pimentel, Sinerxia (Mexico), President
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Illustrations
b-w charts t-o
Dimensions
Height: 162 mm
Width: 237 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
466 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-6680-3307-4 (9781668033074)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
John Eliot | Jim Guinn
How to Get Along with Anyone
The Playbook for Predicting and Preventing Conflict at Work and at Home
E-Book
02/2025
Simon + Schuster LLC
€14.83
Available for download
Persons
Dr. John Eliot, PhD, mentors executives and advises professional sports teams, coaches, and athletes on how to apply individual and organizational psychology principles for enhancing health, performance, workplace culture, and the bottom line. He has consulted for NASA, the US Olympic Committee, the Mayo Clinic, Sony, Microsoft, and other Fortune 500 companies. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, ESPN, Fox Sports, MSNBC, Bloomberg, Harvard Business Review, and more. Eliot has held professorial appointments at the University of Virginia, Stanford, Rice, the SMU Edwin Cox School of Business, and the Texas Medical Center, where he won teaching awards at each.
Jim Guinn, EdD, is the president of the Resolution Resource Group, a training and development company that works with Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, large-scale school districts, universities, law firms, and governments on effectively handling conflict. As a mediator, he has conducted over a thousand successful mediations involving family, organizational, civil, and governmental disputes. In addition to his firm's corporate work with a large diversity of clients across HR departments, sales staffs, middle management, and boards, Dr. Guinn personally trains CEOs from all walks of life, plus numerous celebrities and sports icons.
Jim Guinn, EdD, is the president of the Resolution Resource Group, a training and development company that works with Fortune 500 companies, professional sports franchises, large-scale school districts, universities, law firms, and governments on effectively handling conflict. As a mediator, he has conducted over a thousand successful mediations involving family, organizational, civil, and governmental disputes. In addition to his firm's corporate work with a large diversity of clients across HR departments, sales staffs, middle management, and boards, Dr. Guinn personally trains CEOs from all walks of life, plus numerous celebrities and sports icons.