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Summary: Powerful, simple and useful for life
Review: "Leadership and Self-Deception" is a must read for professional offices with only a few select team members as well as the largest of corporations. This book could positively influence the future development of economic and leadership theories as a whole because of what it accounts for. Profound.My business has utilized the Arbinger Institute and this book is just the tip of the iceberg. If you possess any people sense at all, I expect you will thoroughly enjoy this book. It has become my organizational performance handbook. About the negative reviews written, either these readers are ill motivated or they simply failed to track its implications for their lives. No matter their opinion, I remain deeply impressed.
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Summary: Quick Read
Review: Solid ideas about how to build relationships starting with yourself.
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Summary: Not earthshaking, but still a good book
Review: "Most organizational problems - from problems in leadership, to problems in motivation, teamwork, communication, accountability, stress, and so on - are not separate problems at all, but are symptoms of the single problem of self-deception" (from Leadership and Self Deception) Harsh words? You may think so at first, but by the end of this book you may agree with the authors. The premise is a mental box that we all occupy throughout our lives. How we get there, or get out. What we can't see when we are there, how being 'in the box' affects how we interpret what we see. Our motivations when 'in the box' and how the box affects those we interact with. The book claims to present "ground breaking" ideas from Dr. Warner's international research team, on par with the ideas advanced by Freud. While I would take issue with that statement, what I thought the book did well was to provide an innovative wrapper for a number of ideas and concepts that have been floating around the world of psychology. The book is an easy read and shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours to complete. The magic is in the simplicity of the concepts. An easy metaphor to visualize something much more complex. This book won't change your world, but it will give you another way to view how we interact with those around us.
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Summary: Ignore the critics... read this book and decide for yourself
Review: I am an avid reader with well over 900 books in my library that I have read and studied over the years. Because I have been subjected to some garbage printed on what were once perfectly good trees, I am sceptical of most self-help books and concepts. (for instance, I hated "Who Moved My Cheese") However, this book rates in my top 5 for the ability to provide the keys to positive personal transformation. I absolutely love the concept presented in this book. You cannot read it without being changed by it. The beauty of the concept presented in this easy to read book is that it can be implemented in your life immediately with positive feedback coming instantly. You will not need to get the other people in your life to read this book to make it work for you. Powerfully transforming. I recomend this book without hesitation. Ignore the negative criticism presented by a few naysayers in the 55 posts below...
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Summary: Mormon connection (almost) ruined it for me
Review: My boss bought a number of copies of this book to distribute among management, and I found the ideas it espoused quite helpful, although the sixth-grade reading level it's written at can be a bit trying at times. The idea that perceiving those you deal with in your daily life as people rather than objects can help you to be more effective is very valid. Dr. C. Terry Warner, founder of the Arbinger Institute, as well as the Institute itself, are closely linked with BYU and the Mormon community, and when I discovered this after reading the book, it put something of a bad taste in my mouth; I wondered if this was a bonafide business book or simply soft-sell PR for the LDS groups. Simply substitute "in the box" and "out of the box" for "saved" and "sinner" and you have an entirely different book. Since the book espouses approaches that aren't tied to any specific religion, and since the points it makes are very valid, I'd recommend taking a peek despite the BYU / LDS link.
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Summary: WONDERFUL
Review: As a leader in a spiritual setting I found this book to be thought provoking. In a culture that teaches you to focus on #1, yourself, it is refreshing to read a book that says to do for others is okay. I have thought about myself while reading this book and it has caused to me to re-think and un-learn some things. I recommend this book to anyone who is willing to cahnge their prospective on how they do business. This book can be read by the secular as well as the spiritual.
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Summary: Masterfully Done
Review: I have read this book and I think the old Sophists of ancient Greece would be proud of it. It is masterfully done, especially for those looking for a relatively quick fix. It's a great how-to book on getting "out of the box". I highly recommend it. And, to round out your understanding of the basic philosophies that underpin leadership, I think you should also consider reading the premier book on that called "West Point", by Norman Thomas Remick.
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Summary: Built a company on these ideas
Review: My business partners and I built a healthcare company on the ideas from this book. We are amazed at what it has helped us achieve. The book helps us help people at all levels of our organization conceive business results in a way that helps their co-workers achieve their results. Vigorous collaboration is commonplace among those leaders and teams in our company where principles taught in the book are applied. The proof for us has been in how this kind of collaboration has produced blue-chip results in our individual business units and relative to the industry at large. Careful reading and re-reading of this book has proven better than any productivity, team building, or leadership training we've encountered.
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Summary: Not your ordinary business improvement book!
Review: I must say - I hate to read books that are supposed to improve your business performance. Simply hate them! I was introduced to Leadership and Self-Deception at an unusual place - a church men's breakfast. The fellow giving the devotional talked about this book and was so enthusiastic I picked it up. To say that I am glad that I did is an understatement. A practical guide to changing one's outlook on life, not just the way one conducts business. This book provides a realistic plan to look at one's self honestly and to begin to see reality as it truly is. So often I look at the world through glasses that are put on to justify my own view. Applying these principles I am beginning to see things as they are. The principles have improved ALL of my relationships, not just at work, but in every aspect of my life. I treat people better, because I am putting away my views of them that are not honest, but rather would allow me to continue my own world view. I see people as they are and am free to treat them as people, not objects. Taking to heart the advice of this book will transform readers. This sounds like an unbelievable statement, but it really does do just that!
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Summary: Life changing!
Review: This book is simple and quick reading with profound results. It's like seeing life clearly for the first time. Applying the principles of personal relationships taught in this book will change your life. We really do create our own problems!
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