Leadership and Self-Deception holds up a brutally honest mirror to behavior in which we all indulge to justify our shortcomings

Leadership and Self-Deception holds up a brutally honest mirror to behavior in which we all indulge to justify our shortcomings. The result is not self-remorse or punishment but a glimpse of a life to be lived with integrity and freed of the boundaries and constraints we inflict upon ourselves and others.

 

The Big Idea

How would you react if you were told by your top boss that you have a problem and that problem is you – only you don’t know how on earth you can be THE problem? Sounds confusing, doesn’t it? Well, in this simple, practical, enlightening, maybe even life-changing business book from the Arbringer Institute, you’ll find that at the center of most organizational problems is the human frailty of Self-Deception.

With its easy-to-read narrative style and analogy by common life examples, you’ll find the concepts and principles adaptable to any work environment. Sometimes, you’ll hardly feel that you’re reading a business book because the subject is deeply rooted on how you behave as an individual, as a person and thus, may also be applied to your everyday life.

Introduction

This book starts with a meeting between Bud Jefferson, Executive Vice President of Zagrum Company, and Tom Callum, newest Senior Manager to one of Zagrum’s product lines. This kind of meeting has been a tradition in the company that all new senior management personnel are expected to participate in. The first thing that Bud told Tom after all the pleasantries have been dispensed was that Tom had a problem and that he himself was unaware of it. This bit of information confused Tom but he waited patiently for the explanation. This explanation took two days to unravel…

Deception and the Box

On the first day of the meeting, Bud tried to explain to Tom the presence of Self-Deception and its tenacious hold on every human being. He asked Tom to think of a person in his previous company whom he believed to be an impediment to teamwork. This person was so full of himself that he’s a classic case for self-deception. Its grip was so strong yet so subtle as to be non-existent to this person with the problem. Bud also discussed other analogous situations with Tom and thus defined Self-Deception and the Box.

It is the case of everyone in your organization thinking you’re the problem except that you’re not even aware or are even in denial of such a possibility. Here, you will find that self-deception or being “in the Box” is the main reason, albeit unknowingly, why leaders fail.

Self-Deception - Being in the Box

Self-deception is likened to being in the box because it seems that you’re shut in a box with no other external stimulus coming in except your own closed perspective. For instance, you may think that you’re committed, totally devoted and engaged in a project – giving it your all, forsaking holidays and special personal occasions for work – and yet, based on other people’s observations, you are NOT. Since you don’t and can’t see it from your point of view, it makes you take a defensive stance and even come to believe that other people are against you.

Self-Deception – The Disease in the Organization

This inability to see that the problem lies within you carries its weight on the relationship you have with your peers and ultimately translates itself on the performance of your group. This happens whether you’re at the helm of a Fortune 500 company or heading a smaller group within a larger organization. You may think that your people skills are influencing your team members into producing great results. However, it may just be the other way around! In fact, it takes more than that to be effective in establishing a good rapport with your employees, co-workers and team members. Your success will come from a sincere desire to learn about them. People can detect even the slightest hint of hypocrisy and manipulation and leaders fail because they provoke the people to resist them by such behavior.