Thomas Erikson's Surrounded by Idiots is one of those books that's easy to see why it became a bestseller. It's funny, engaging and full of memorable examples. It starts well with a sense of humour - the "keep the receipt" joke immediately sets the tone - and throughout the book Erikson has a knack for making behavioural psychology feel approachable rather than academic.
One of the first ideas that struck me was his challenge to the Golden Rule. Rather than treating others as you would like to be treated, he argues you should treat people as they would like to be treated. It's a simple shift in thinking, but one with obvious implications for communication, leadership and relationships.
The core of the book is the familiar DISC model, expressed as four colours:
🔴 Red – task-oriented extroverts who focus on results and action.
🟡 Yellow – relationship-oriented extroverts who thrive on people, enthusiasm and ideas.
🟢 Green – relationship-oriented introverts who value stability and harmony.
🔵 Blue – task-oriented introverts who value logic, accuracy and structure.
Erikson spends several chapters explaining each type before turning to what I found the most valuable part of the book: how to adapt your communication to different people.
Much of the advice is practical. With Reds, get to the point and don't drown them in detail. With Yellows, make it fun, focus on feelings rather than spreadsheets and, if you want them to remember something, get them to write it down. Greens appreciate patience and stability. Blues want facts, preparation and accuracy.
Whether every stereotype is fair is another matter. Some observations made me smile, such as engineers making terrible salespeople because they're too honest, while others felt exaggerated for comic effect. The descriptions of Yellows, in particular, often lean heavily into caricature.
One of the more reassuring chapters comes near the end, where Erikson acknowledges that people aren't fixed into a single colour. We all have the potential to display any of the behaviours depending on the situation. He even describes consciously drawing on his Yellow traits when speaking in public to make sure the audience enjoys themselves. That nuance helps rescue the model from becoming too simplistic.
I also appreciated that the final chapters discuss what the colours can't tell you. Behavioural preferences are only part of the picture. Motivation, values, life experiences and underlying driving forces all influence how people behave. In other words, the colours are a lens, not a complete explanation of personality.
Out of curiosity, I completed the book's questionnaire. My results were:
🟢 Green – 35%
🔵 Blue – 30%
🔴 Red – 30%
🟡 Yellow – 5%
That feels broadly plausible. I can certainly recognise the Green preference for harmony, the Blue desire for structure and accuracy, and enough Red to enjoy solving problems and making decisions. The almost complete absence of Yellow also explains why networking events don't naturally energise me.
The biggest caveat is one Erikson himself only partly addresses. The book presents DISC confidently, but the evidence supporting the colour descriptions isn't especially rigorous. If you're looking for a scientifically robust model of personality, you'll probably be disappointed. If, however, you treat it as a framework for thinking about communication rather than a diagnostic tool, it becomes much more useful.
Overall, I enjoyed Surrounded by Idiots. It's well written, genuinely funny in places, and packed with practical suggestions that could improve conversations at work and at home. I wouldn't pigeonhole people into four coloured boxes, but I would happily recommend the book as a reminder that not everyone thinks, communicates or makes decisions the same way, and that adapting to those differences is often the key to being understood.
Thomas Erikson
ISBN-13: 978-1785042188
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