At work, most of our stress and anxiety does not come from the work itself, but from our mutual misunderstandings with other people. These misunderstandings cause problems, and in turn these problems cause us a lot of pain. Why do we struggle to win people over to our ideas? Why do we feel so defensive all the time? How can we motivate our team to perform better? How can we defend ourselves when a toxic colleague tries to steal credit from us?

Fortunately, there is a proven way to solve all of these problems. A way to stop feeling emotional about your colleagues’ actions, and instead start taking control over your working life. A form of deep empathy that will help you to decode the confusing actions of others. We will call this sense "social intelligence". Developing this sense does not require any special tools, only the willingness to absorb yourself deeply into other people’s perspectives.

By extracting a set of timeless principles from the masters of the social realm, you will gain the ability to understand others and get the best out of the people you work with. This book will teach you the strategies used by leaders, both past and present, to start working with the grain of human nature, rather than fight constant energy-sapping battles that distract you from your work. Your journey into a new realm of empathy, power, and influence is about to begin.