Member-only story
If you clicked on this link expecting to learn about a new leadership model or framework, you will be disappointed. Effective leadership, as I discovered, is not about frameworks. It is deeper than that.
I was first introduced to the book Leadership and Self-deception in 2004 when I was a regular in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). My unit was in-between intakes of trainees, and being on lull put me at high risk of being tasked with grunt work. So when I chanced upon a two-day workshop on leadership and self-deception, I signed up.
I attended the course, participated fully, got my certificate, and went back to work. Essentially, nothing changed.
Then in 2009, something happened that forced me to reflect. My career was going great. I was effective at work. I was getting good ratings, good performance bonuses, but my relationships with my superiors, my peers, and my subordinates were not so great.
Then, just like in the movies, I was sitting in my office and I saw the Leadership and Self-deception workbook. I was drawn to it, re-read it, and then it clicked. The issues I was facing were exactly as the instructor had shared. In our interaction with people, and in leadership, there is something deeper. I started applying the concepts that I was taught and my life changed.
