CONNECTED: The Interpersonal Intelligence Playbook by Jesse Ford
Master the Human Skills That Build Careers, Strengthen Relationships, and Change the World — In the Age of Screens and Social Distance
 
CONNECTED: The Interpersonal Intelligence Playbook is a comprehensive, research-backed guide to mastering the interpersonal skills that determine the quality of every relationship in your life — your career, your marriage, your family, your community, and your digital presence.
 
Drawing on over 80 years of Harvard research, the groundbreaking work of Daniel Goleman, Brené Brown, John Gottman, and more, author Jesse Ford delivers a practical, immediately actionable playbook for becoming the kind of person others trust, follow, and genuinely want to be around.
 
Why This Book Exists
Harvard's longest-running study on adult development — spanning more than 80 years — arrived at one inescapable conclusion: the quality of your relationships is the single greatest predictor of your health, happiness, and longevity. Not wealth. Not fame. Not intelligence. Relationships.
 
Yet 42% of adults report feeling lonely often. 70% of employees say they have no best friend at work. And technology — designed to connect us — has quietly made things worse.
 
Interpersonal skills are not soft skills. They are survival skills. CONNECTED gives you the science, the frameworks, and the practical tools to develop them — starting today.
 
What You Will Learn
This book is built around six parts, each addressing a different arena of human life:
 
Part One — The Foundation: Understand the neuroscience of human connection, master self-awareness, develop your emotional intelligence, and navigate the digital paradox with intention.
 
Part Two — The Workplace: Communicate with clarity and impact, influence without authority, transform conflict into deeper trust, and build a professional network that genuinely works for you.
 
Part Three — The Home: Listen as an act of love, build unshakeable trust using Brené Brown's BRAVING framework, navigate difficult conversations, and raise emotionally intelligent children.
 
Part Four — The Community: Discover the power of showing up, lead without a title, and bridge cultural differences with grace and confidence.
 
Part Five — Society & Digital Life: Reclaim your attention from the algorithm, develop online emotional intelligence, and build authentic influence in the digital age.
 
Part Six — Mastery: Adopt the seven habits of highly connected people and follow a structured 90-Day Interpersonal Intelligence Action Plan to embed everything you've learned into daily life.
 
Inside Every Chapter
Every chapter includes a real-world Practice Exercise — a concrete activity you can begin within 24 hours. You will also find proven frameworks including the Goleman EQ Model, the Johari Window, Gottman's Four Horsemen and their antidotes, the BRAVING Trust Framework, the CLEAR Communication Model, the RESOLVE Conflict Framework, the Five Love Languages, Robert Cialdini's Six Principles of Influence, and more.
 
This Book Is for You If:
You want to be more confident, present, and effective in professional conversations.
You want to strengthen your most important personal relationships.
You lead a team and want to build genuine trust and psychological safety.
You feel disconnected despite being constantly "online."
You are a parent who wants to raise emotionally intelligent children.
You want to resolve conflict without damaging relationships.
You want to build a reputation and career on the foundation of real human connection.
 
Formats
PDF eBook – download instantly and read anywhere.
Flipbook Edition – interactive, page-flip version for an immersive reading experience.
Complementary Workbook – included free as a fillable Word document and as a fillable PDF.
 
Return Policy
All sales are final; as our products are digital, they cannot be returned or refunded once purchased.