Book review : Connect
To connect , or not to connect ?
Authors : David Bradford and Carole Robin Published : 2021 by Penguin
“ To share or not to share , that is the question .”
If Shakespeare ’ s Hamlet of old had to find himself in the modern working world , that would probably be a question he would have asked himself almost daily .
And we are not talking about strategic ideas or innovative business concepts , but rather whether he would share his emotions and part of his personality with his colleagues ( keeping in mind that in his case , his “ colleagues ” literally were ready to stab him in the back ).
In Hamlet ’ s case , we know that he asked the original version of this question : “ To be or not to be ” when he was extremely depressed and fed up with everything in the world around him .
Do we all not feel like that at work at some stage or another ?
But , as David Bradford and Carol Robin rightly state in their book Connect : “ The workplace hasn ’ t exactly been an ally in the cause of emotional expression . For decades , organisations stressed the importance of keeping feelings out of the workplace .”
The concept of sharing feelings , emotions and part of one ’ s “ being ” not only with friends and family but also with colleagues , is the central concept to Bradford and Robin ’ s book . Bradford holds a PhD in social psychology from the University of Michigan while Robin holds a PhD in Human and Organisation Systems from the Fielding Graduate University . They both teach what is by now called “ Touchy Feely ” at Stanford University ’ s Graduate School of Business .
“ Touchy Feely ”? Since when is that a subject , you might ask .
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