Customer Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely insightful
Comment: After reading this book, I had to read it again. I was reading it for a training and I explained to my Trainer that this book is a "good ouch". If you want to change your way of being in relationships, if you want transformation in your company, applying the principles from this book will definately bring a transformation. I recommend this book to everyone from student, husband, wife and executive. Cheri
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book!
Comment: This book was such an easy read and very motivating. It will cause anybody to self-reflect and want to make changes in their lives. Anyone who reads this book will not be disappointed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Jorth's view on Leadership and Self-deception
Comment: This book is exceptional in regard to understanding the inner workings of our perceptions and the effect our personal character influences what we see and hear. Highly recommended.
Coach Charles Powell
Customer Rating:
Summary: Read it. Then read it again.
Comment: If you're looking for something a little different in a book on leadership, then look no further than LEADERSHIP AND SELF-DECEPTION by The Arbinger Institute. This is different from other leadership books in that it reads in the form of a story (not a parable) about a man who has just landed a job with a company he has long coveted. He is about to learn exactly why the company, Zagram, has achieved such greatness.
Follow the journey of Tom Callum as he is introduced to the principles that have set Zagrum Company apart from the competition. You'll be introduced to the principles of self-deception, self-betrayal, and being in or out of "the box". The critical point the reader will learn here is that we all spend a great deal of time in the box and when we are in the box, we are not operating anywhere near where we should. Furthermore, being in the box effects not only our work, but all inter-personal relationships and interactions in life.
Not to worry, though. The authors won't leave you hanging. Tom later learns, as his training continues, how to step out of the box. Although he also learns that what he has learned, and what this story covers, is only the first phase of a three part plan. It is a little disappointing to not be introduced to the second and third parts of the Arbinger Institutes plan, but don't let that stop you from reading this book.
In fact, you probably won't just read this book and be done with it. I plan to re-read this immediately. It is simply too much to fully comprehend in one reading, at least it was for me. The story is entertaining. The lessons are well presented and logical. What you take away will be invaluable. I see many ways of implementing what I have learned here, not just in business situations, but in marriage coaching as well. These are principles that will affect all aspects of life and business.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The next generation
Comment: A great read. If your organization is a learning organization and is interested in finding a book that is a page turner for those who do not normally read then this is a book for you. The authors found a way to present the concepts of the next generation of leadership in an easy to understand easy to follow dialoge. The next generation of leadership in my opinion is idea that empathy and social understand are crucial to being a leader. This book will help give an organization a common vocabulary to discuss issues.
Leadership and Self-Deception is the first book to reveal the foremost, critical cause of leadership failure. From the Arbinger Institute, a consortium of scholars, business leaders, and professionals, this book identifies self-deception as the disease at the core of all of the leadership shortcomings we see in today's organizations, and self-betrayal as the cause of the disease. It provides a new solution to the age-old problem of self-deception. This powerful solution shows that most people problems in organizations are the result of self-deceptiona problem that can be identified, isolated, and treated in a disciplined, results-oriented way. Through an entertaining and highly instructive story, this book presents a revolutionary new understanding of the nature of successful leadership, drawn from recent research and findings in philosophical psychology. It shows how self-betrayalthe act and then on-going state of going against one's ethical sense of what he or she should be doing for othersleads to self-deception, the central player in all leadership breakdowns, relationship issues, and performance problems in organizations. The book reveals how leaders who are self-deceived might as well be living in a boxtrapped, cut off from others, and blind to the truth. It illustrates how leaders trapped within this box cannot lead effectively no matter how hard they try and no matter how many skills and techniques they employ. Through vivid examples, the book shows what self-deception is, how it operates, and, most importantly, how it can be overcome. Leadership and Self-Deception demonstrates how when we understand self-deception we understand why its not enough to identify and treat leadership problems as if they were separate and distinct. Often that's what happens: we make an inventory of leadership skills and determine that a given leader doesn't provide enough feedback or doesn't take time to listen to people, or delegates without providing clear direction. But those who receive such feedback often fail to improve their leadership abilities. They may work to become more effective evaluators at one workshop, more practiced listeners at another, more directive leaders at another, and yet overlook completely the root cause of the problem. Frequently, they still are not transformed into leaders whom people want to follow. What will transform them? The authors assert that the key to leadership lies deeper than any particular behavior or skill. It lies in how we areour way of being. They reveal that, while we may behave in an infinite variety of ways, at the deep level of who we are, there are fundamentally two ways of being: the state of self-deception (like living in a box), and the state of being that is honest, straightforward, and genuine. The first is the source of leadership problems and the second the source of leadership success. While some books have identified the importance of state of being in leadership, this book shows how we come to enter one state or the other as leadersand how it is possible to change. Understanding and applying this principle is the key to leadership transformation; it is the key to becoming a consistent catalyst for success. Leadership and Self-Deception clearly demonstrates how people can stop undermining themselves and what amazing things happen when they dofreely and fully putting to work all the behavioral skills, systems, and techniques that will bring success to them and their organizations. While other books cover useful people skills, techniques, and systems of leadership, this one goes deeper, fully illuminating the source of what makes truly effective leadership.
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