Leadership and Self Deception

Introduction
From personal experience, nobody ever wants to hear that they have a problem in any aspect of their life. The truth is painful to hear. I know that I’m very critical of myself and I am able to accept it from myself. By nature, we as individuals aren’t as accepting to listen to someone else tell us that we have a problem or that we are the problem.
Sometimes listening to someone tell you that you have a problem can really throw you off your game. In your mind, you are thinking…yeah right, I don’t have a problem, tssk tssk, what are you talking about? Your natural instinct is to disagree and get defensive, maybe your eyes twitch, your heart beats really fast and you break out in a sweat, whatever it is…you likely deny that you have a problem.
Philosophers call this self deception, being in the box where you resist any suggestion that there is a problem. Self deception is most common in organizations and is the most damaging.
Others looking at you give you a different perspective of yourself. You yourself may never see that there are any issues. When we aren’t recognizing there is a problem, we tend to be blind to the truth. If we are close minded in acknowledging there is a problem, any approach to find a solution will make matters worse.
Self deception is so fundamental to leadership because leadership is about making matters better. We undermine our leadership at every aspect if we perceive that we are never the problem.
The book focuses on recognizing self deception and discovering the solution to self deception by educating ourselves about the detrimental effects of self deception. From the knowledge that we gain about self deception, it’s solution becomes very liberating.
Your approach in telling someone they have a problem is very critical in primarily achieving the suitable outcome and reaction. People respond better if you handle the approach that would promote and encourage productivity and commitment rather than resistance, negativity and ill will. If we are in the box, our views of reality is distorted and we don’t see ourselves or others clearly. “When we are self deceived, it creates problems for people around us.”
The simple task of taking the time to learn people’s names shows a willingness to know them as a person and not an object. If you see others straightforwardly then you view others out of the box without bias.
Because you are aware of how you treat others as a person and not an object will create a positive response that people respond well to and will return the same positive response.
There are four levels of organizational performance as mentioned in the book. The first is self betrayal, second is collusion, third is getting out of the box and last is focusing on the results.
In understanding self betrayal, we must define it. Self betrayal is an act contrary to what you feel you should do for another. Once I betray myself, I then start to view the world in a very different way that justifies my self betrayal.
So when I make justifications of what I’ve done, in doing so I make reality become distorted. By betraying myself, I place myself in the box.
We all have choices we make on a daily basis, from something very simple to something very very important that would impact our lives. As you make these choices, you set yourself up either in the box or out of the box.
We need to recognize the characteristics of self betray in order to fully discover the solutions to the problem. One common characteristic is using other’s faults to justify our own misbehavior.
Another characteristic is inflating own virtue or expanding the value of things that justify my self betrayal. Then you have what’s called the blame-filled distinction.
It is not easy to locate your personal problem on your own. A person with the knowledge of self deception and the solution would be wise to mentor and guide you to transform self deception into positive results.
One way to experience myself as a person among people versus to experience myself as the person amongst objects. If you know the difference between the above mentioned then you have the ability to surpass self deception and find the solution to your problem.
I am amazed at what I learned reading this book about self deception and how easily it could make me the focus of the problem amongst my work environment.
Learning about self deception makes me aware that I could be a better person and a better employee in an organization. You would want to contribute to the progress of your work environment for the benefit of everyone around you.
Self deception seems so simple to overcome once you acknowledge there is a problem however it seems so difficult to realize and accept there is a problem within yourself.
Self deception is a particularly difficult problem. Most organizations are faced with this and stuck in the box.
The task at hand is to train staff to learn how to recognize self deception, it’s characteristics so that one may move forward to bigger and better things.
As we come to understand self deception and the harmful impact of self deception, we arise with a more keen sense of vision. Our feelings of conflict diminishes and we are stimulated with the desire for teamwork. Acknowledging self deception and resolving the problem within yourself provides us with empowerment in every aspect of leadership.
We all hope for great leaders in our country and organizations but most importantly we are in need of people that have influence for good.