Getting Out of the Box

I would assume that very few people have gone out to purchase this book on their own. Instead, like in my case, it was assigned to them for reading as part of a course, a focus-group, or a leadership seminar. And that’s fine, but right out of the gate and before I even opened the book, I was turned off a touch by my 2018 edition’s cover boasting “over 2 million copies sold.” That’s like McGraw Hill counting the number of students who use their textbooks instead of the number of schools that purchase them. It’s it a little disingenuous.

And so we have Leadership and Self-Deception! Hopefully you can tell why I wasn’t all that thrilled to read this book for the seminar I attended in January (yes, I’m that far behind in my books reviews!). There’s another level to it, though, that made this one of my most disappointing reads in quite a while, but it’s less the book’s fault and more the organization that assigned it to us. Let me explain.

The organization that assigned this to me is a Christian org which was encouraging a group of us to improve the way we interact as leaders. It’s a noble goal, of course, to help us see where we’re failing, where we can improve, and what steps can help us attain a stronger cohesion. The problem was that a Christian org already has a textbook on how people are supposed to relate to each other, and it’s called “the Bible.” This book by the Arbinger Institute isn’t necessarily anti-biblical, but it does deal with biblical (even spiritual) themes in ways that are, well, unbiblical.

Need an example? It refuses to acknowledge the presence of sin (namely selfishness, arrogance, and pride), instead calling them “self-deceptions” or “being in the box.”

Need another example? The book’s solution to getting out of the box is simply to gain the right mindset, to remind oneself of the principles taught in the book, and to act. Put another way, the solution to overcoming your sin is to think better thoughts and to do better deeds.

I’m sorry, but earlier when I said this book “isn’t necessarily anti-biblical,” I was wrong. It is. A person can’t fix his sin problem merely by changing his mind. A person can’t solve her selfishness, pride, and arrogance issues simply by treating others better.

“Where’s Christ?” It’s a question (obviously) most organizations wouldn’t be asking when they assign this book, yet it my case, I really think the org should have. After all, everyone in attendance at my leadership conference was a born-again believer, Bible teacher, and Christian leader expected to work together on a team in a God-honoring way. Yet the book the leadership assigned never once acknowledged God (His existence or character), it attempted to convince us that our problem was purely mental, and it tried to drive us to a simple solution of just trusting mind over matter.

It didn’t require much digging to discover the real reason why this book taught such an anti-biblical, anti-Christian philosophy: it has very deep Mormon roots. C. Terry Warner, founder of the Arbinger Institute, was a long-time professor at Brigham Young University and (it can be assumed with about 99% certainty) that his high status at the school suggests the depths of his involvement in the LDS cult. Why speak of Christ when one’s own good works on this earth can assure one’s future exaltation in the next life and universe?

Now, surely I can say a few good things about this book. First, its style. The book explores its philosophies through what’s essentially fiction, a novelized conversation between an employee and his boss, where the boss teaches the new hire all about the philosophies that have made this company unique among all others. It’s intriguing, and it certainly makes you want to keep reading.

Second, the book most assuredly got our team talking! In fact, the whole of our free-time afternoon was spent either harping on the book’s gross lack of theology or the Bible passages that could have been used to replace the humanistic philosophies espoused throughout. I bet that (had I recorded all of those conversation) I could have published an excellent novelization of a group of Christians harping on a really crappy, Godless book and making it better (I feel like I’m going in circles now).

I write all this to say that this book is not worth a Christian’s time. Sure there’s some “common grace” stuff we can all learn from, as we often can from non-believers. I get that. But there’s also about 10,000 other books that actually acknowledge God and sin and Scripture and the need for repentance—oh, and real, God-given grace that can allow us all to inter-relate. There are too many better books out there for a Christian org to use in training its leaders to inter-relate, which makes this book completely useless when you get right down to it.

I’m a bit chagrinned that this was the only selection for our team of Christian leaders to read, but at least now that I’ve read it, I can have an honest opinion: I hated it. Don’t waste your time. 

©2023 E.T.