Leadership and Self-Deception (The Arbinger Institute, 2010)

This book came recommended by one of the presenters in the leadership program I'm taking this academic year. When I heard it was one of those "business novels", I immediately thought back to classics like The Goal and dropped this into my reading queue.

Like many business novels, the point is not to read it for the story or narrative, but rather the principles being espoused. The big message coming from this book is that we need to view other people as people not objects. When we view people as objects we distort our view of reality, seeing ourselves as heroes and saviors while everyone else exists only to mess us up. For some reason I thought a lot about how people view driving and other drivers and this message speaks volumes to that. I can't tell you how many times I've been with an awful driver who, as they drove poorly, complained about how terrible everyone else was!

This book is important for current and future leaders because it was help soothe excessive interpersonal conflict in the workplace. When we are stuck inside our boxes, everyone may appear as an obstacle, but when we open up and get to know the people around us and what motivates them, it lets get the heart of the objective issues without distorted perceptions interfering. Come to think about it, I think I'd recommend this to the shrill wingnuts in our political system. If nothing else, we'd have a friendlier election cycle.