Worst Enemy, Best Teacher: How to Survive and Thrive with Opponents, Competitors, and the People Who Drive You Crazy

By Deidre Combs

Book Overview

Both science and spirituality see the enemy as a teacher -- one who holds information critical to resolving common struggles. But learning from one's enemies, especially in these polarized times, can be a profoundly difficult task. Worst Enemy, Best Teacher integrates spiritual, cultural, and scientific methods to transform adversarial relationships into powerful learning experiences. Here mediator and corporate trainer Deidre Combs expands on the revolutionary philosophy introduced in her first book The Way of Conflict. She suggests a cross-cultural elemental typing system -- earth, air, fire, water -- to identify and learn how best to approach the person or problem that plagues us most -- whether it's a neighbor, a brother-in-law, a new boss, or the factory's fiercest competitor. The book shows how to apply the wisdom gained from studying the opponent to any challenge, whether within one's self, with friends or family, or between companies or nations, and offers ingenious tips and techniques for learning from the enemy and converting conflict into resolution.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1577314824
• ISBN13: 9781577314820
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: New World Library
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful

So far Im on page 152 and I must say this book has brought me to higher levels of consciousness.

m hall

Deidre Combs keeps up in her determination to have us all learning from our enemies rather than discounting them and avoiding them. Say good-bye to being "right" and hello to the new more empowered you. You want to be like those people you admire - the ones who never seem to get upset and never get discouraged, despite serious opposition...then read this book!. It makes a powerful case with story, example, diagram, chart, illustration, quotation and science, in less than 200 pages! Your enemies are waiting to be transformed into your teachers.

Timely Info

Combs provides a unique view on four types of opponents that can drive us crazy. In this easy-to-read instruction manual, I was able to identify which type my son's baseball coach was (who I could have easily throttled during Little League season), and what approaches I could have used during our head-butting. With this information I could finally let the conflict go. I loved the timeless tales that begin each chapter. With them I can weave Combs' approach in as I talk to my own kids about dealing with difficult people. This is my favorite Christmas gift to all those people in my life complaining about their own "worst enemies."

Excellent Help for Working with Difficult People

In this book you will find concrete exercises and devises that will help you figure out what is is about certain people that drives you crazy, and what that means about who you are and how you function. In going through these exercises, your whole perspective changes toward yourself and toward the difficult person in your life. You can start to see the value that conflict with a difficult person can bring. Difficult people can be wonderful mirrors into your life, exposing blind spots that you might not normally see. My most difficult person/best teacher, is someone in my immediate family, and this book has helped me to identify why he pushes my buttons, and how I can work with that knowledge to help me stay present and really learn something from the conflict. It has been very helpful in many of my most difficult relationships. I highly recommend this book to anyone with difficult people in their life (which I'm guessing is everyone!)

Change Your Perspective

Oprah Winfrey is quoted as saying: "Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a different way to stand." In "Worst Enemy, Best Teacher" Combs takes a similar tack, demonstrating that with proper perspective, our enemies are actually an excellent means of self discovery and improvement. With this book, Combs helps us discover and develop that perspective. The book is full of great quotes, exercises, illustrations, and resources for further learning.