I am trying to understand personal interaction in a semi-technical fashion in order for me to have mental models which are intuitive enough to me which can guide me in casual (and, later, business) interaction. I've read through some of the OB posts on status and I'm currently reading the book Impro (which Robin Hanson recommends here). I've also partially made it through Dale Carnegie's How to Make Friends and Influence People. Book suggestions are very welcome.
The forthcoming Tempo has potential as a guide to strategic interaction within an organizational context, based on the author's insightful blog.
Non-book suggestion: I think it is likely that at a certain point practice becomes more important than reading. I'd be wary of spending too much time in the books and not enough in the field. My most successful means of getting lots of practice was direct sales, but this is emphatically not for everyone.
Any thoughts on how something like this could work in a group setting? I confess to being a little stumped.
Whpearson recently mentioned that people in some other online communities frequently ask "what are you working on?". I personally love asking and answering this question. I made sure to ask it at the Seattle meetup. However, I don't often see it asked here in the comments, so I will ask it:
What are you working on?
Here are some guidelines