Handling Difficult People provides concrete strategies to identify and handle difficult people. The author emphasizes being proactive to handle, not just cope, with them. The audiobook first underscores your right to defend yourself as opposed to concentrating on why the difficult person is somehow right. Armed with permission to defend yourself, you can then work on identifying the four types and then employ strategies and tactics to deal with each kind. The author emphasizes narrowing the types down to four so you can quickly identify the type, set up the effective strategy to deal with that type, and then employ the specific tactics recommended by the author.
The book identifies one truly difficult type, the attacker, and three easier types to deal with types: the complainer, the know it all, and ineffective. The author states that dealing with attackers is unproductive - not to mention being disturbing and upsetting. The most effective approach is to contain the attacker and seek to exit from the relationship as quickly as possible. The others can be handled effectively, and the author sets out strategies and tactics to do so, emphasizing that handling these people works best if you have the end in mind. What do you want to accomplish and what can you accomplish? Sometimes, you simply must deal with them, as family members or bosses at work; often, you can maneuver them out of your life. The author identifies fives areas you meet these people, and how you can handle them accordingly: family, friendships, professional encounters, business or work, and in the community.