Audiobook2 hours
Vital Friends: The People You Can't Afford to Live Without
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
What's the quickest way to ruin a friendship? Do great friendships have anything in common? Are close friendships in the workplace such a bad thing? These are just a few of the questions that bestselling author Tom Rath asked when he embarked on a massive study about the impact of friendships. His team's findings— including the landmark discovery that people who have a "best friend at work" are seven times as likely to be engaged in their job—are sure to challenge long-held assumptions people have about their friendships.
Vital Friends will help you better understand the eight vital friendship roles your friends play in your life and at work, and will help you develop these relationships into vital friendships that measurably improve your life. Each copy also provides access to the Vital Friends Assessment and website: (gx.gallup.com/vitalfriends.gx/)—a personalized, groundbreaking test that will help you see your coworkers, family, friends, and significant other in a whole new light.
Vital Friends will help you better understand the eight vital friendship roles your friends play in your life and at work, and will help you develop these relationships into vital friendships that measurably improve your life. Each copy also provides access to the Vital Friends Assessment and website: (gx.gallup.com/vitalfriends.gx/)—a personalized, groundbreaking test that will help you see your coworkers, family, friends, and significant other in a whole new light.
Author
Tom Rath
Tom Rath is a consultant on employee engagement, strengths, and wellbeing, and author. He is best known for his studies on strengths based leadership and wellbeing and synthesizing research findings in a series of bestselling books.
Related to Vital Friends
Related audiobooks
Love is a Verb: 10 Ways to Make All Your Relationships Great Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsException to the Rule: The Surprising Science of Character-Based Culture, Engagement, and Performance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming a Leader of Impact Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reinforcements: How to Get People to Help You Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Skills: From First Job to Dream Job—What Every Woman Needs to Know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Thing You Need To Know: ...About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Authenticity: Tools to Become an Authentic Leader and Your Best Self Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Find Your Way: Unleash Your Power and Highest Potential Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairness Is Overrated: And 51 Other Leadership Principles to Revolutionize Your Workplace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fierce Love: Creating a Love that Lasts---One Conversation at a Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Driven by Intention: Own Your Purpose, Gain Power, and Pursue Your Passion as a Woman at Work Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMe to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Hidden Superpower: The Kindness That Makes You Unbeatable at Work and Connects You with Anyone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Matter.: Learning to Love Who You Really Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Communication Habit: Strategies That Set You Apart and Leave a Lasting Impression Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Humanized Leader: The Transformative Power of Emotionally Intelligent Leadership to Impact Culture, Team, and Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing the Bright Side: Embrace Optimism, Activate Your Purpose, and Write Your Own Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don’t Feed the Elephants! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Purpose Factor: Extreme Clarity for Why You're Here and What to Do About It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Master Mentors: 30 Transformative Insights from Our Greatest Minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chasing Failure: How Falling Short Sets You Up for Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Connection: How to Find the Life You're Looking for in the Life You Have Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Applied Empathy: Discovering the Tools to Remove Obstacles, Solve Problems, and Gain Perspective Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Growing Influence: A Story of How to Lead with Character, Expertise, and Impact Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to be Type A without being an A-hole Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Business For You
Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon: Twelve Weeks to Creative Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Getting to Yes: How to Negotiate Agreement Without Giving In Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets Of Americas Wealthy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Habit 1 Be Proactive: The Habit of Choice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The TenX Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Lie With Statistics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Collaborating with the Enemy: How to Work with People You Don’t Agree with or Like or Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Start With Why Summary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silva Mind Control Method Of Mental Dynamics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Manage Your Money When You Don't Have Any Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret to Money Masterclass Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Habit 3 Put First Things First: The Habit of Integrity and Execution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success: What You Need to Know to Win Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get to the Point!: Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Habit 6 Synergize: The Habit of Creative Cooperation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Asshole Survival Guide: How to Deal with People Who Treat You Like Dirt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Vital Friends
Rating: 4.428571428571429 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
14 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5* Specified 8 Vital Roles, how to find and maintain a good relationship with each one.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An excellent tool to get the most out of friendship
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tom's done a great job on this book. Gallup's research has highlighted the importance of relationships at work. Organizations with lots of folks who have best friends at work are significantly more likely to have high levels of productivity, innovation, and success. I particularly like the concept of frinds serving in different roles and not expecting any friend (or yourself) to serve all those roles in any relationship.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I've heard of good friends, close friends, old friends, casual friends, best friends, even "just" friends, but I had never heard the word "vital" to describe friends until this book. And that is exactly what Tom Rath proceeds to explain, that having friends, real, meaningful engaged relationships, is absolutely vital to our health, our well-being, and our personal and professional success. Not "a good idea" or "important" but actually "vital"- absolutely necessary. He starts the book by stating that so much of the focus on personal and professional success is on self-improvement. But is that really the key? His answer is, "The energy between two people is what creates great marriages, families, teams, and organizations." In fact, his first chapter is entitled, "Who Expects You to be Somebody?" where he wisely observes that it is almost always the influence of meaningful people in our lives that drives us to achievement. The second chapter, "The Energy Between," discusses how, "Focusing on the individual is too narrow -- and focusing on the entire group is too broad. The real energy occurs in each connection between two people, which can bring about exponential returns." His next chapter, "Better than Prozac?" cites some interesting research, including a Duke University study showing people with less than four close friends had more than double the risk of heart disease. The most helpful concept he develops in the book is that of "the rounding error" in chapter 5. It is easy, he says, to expect a friend to be "well rounded"-- in other words, to be good at everything: inspiring us, being a companion to us, giving us an energy boost, expanding our horizions, and a dozen other different things. This often subconscious expectation is both unrealistic (no one person can meet all our relationship needs) and a potential relationship killer, both in friendships and in romance and marriage. In a similar vein, he warns us of expecting friendships to be "reciprocal." In other words, I may be an energizer to my friend, but he may be a mind opener for me. Expecting to receive the same of what I give to a friend again is both unrealistic and a potential relationship killer. I surmise that is why the Duke health research found that it takes at least four close friends-- because different people will speak different things into your life, and you need different kinds of friends to have well-balanced friend "nutrition" for your soul, just as you need different foods from different groups to give your body what it needs. The second part of the book goes into more detail about the vital importance of friends at work, citing both anecdotes and research. The final part of the book more fully develops his system of eight vital friendship roles: Builder Champion Collaborator Companion Connector Energizer Mind Opener Navigator He discusses how these roles differ and how to develop these roles both in your life and in the lives of your friends. The book also gives you an access code to a website where you can take a survey to help classify your own friends as to the roles they play in your life. I realized the importance of my friends before I picked up this book. But after reading Vital Friends, I had more appreciation of my friends, new insights into the nature of our friendships, and greater skills & determination to develop our friendships further.