You know how you sometimes finish watching a movie or reading
a book and you have to take a minute to remember where you are… because you
were so caught up in the story? That was
my experience in reading this book. I
highly recommend it.
My behavior—and attitude—toward others has already changed
during this past week since reading the book, Leadership and Self-Deception,
Getting Out of the Box, by the Arbinger Institute.
It’s a simple read, written in story form, similar to “The
One Minute Manager.” Yet for all its simplicity it packs a powerful punch with
profound implications, much like the parables of Jesus. Through the story of an employee who faces
the fresh challenge of a new job, a new company, a “tired” marriage and a
less-than-ideal relationship with his son, the authors reveal the way “we can
blind ourselves to our true motivations and unwittingly sabotage the
effectiveness of our own efforts to achieve success” in our work, and joy in
our most important relationships.
Truth be told, I found it to be a modern parable of Romans
12. Really. In how we regard, work with, tolerate and
treat others, but written in the context and language of business. Which puts a fresh twist on a concept many of
us are familiar with but have a hard time carrying out—and don’t know why. This book helps reveal “the why,” which is
why I found it so compelling and why I believe its message is so profound.
There’s something about stories that invite us into their
action quickly, lowers our defenses, and excites something inside of us. Before we know it the story compels us to
consider a perspective of truth that we might otherwise have dismissed or
ignored.
This kind of truth, which has to do with the heart, cannot
easily be taught as a piece of knowledge, to be learned, stored for future
reference, and then used at a later time when the moment calls for it. No, this is a more profound, character-shaping
truth, that is best communicated in story.
That’s why Jesus so often used parables, instead of a didactic teaching
of the Law, like the other religious leaders of his day. Parables draw you in and before you know it,
you recognize yourself, your family, and your friends in the characters of the
parable. It’s self-discovery rather than
didactic. Which always bears deeper
personal ownership. And leads to genuine change.
