How to turn a group of strangers into a team

Written by pioneering researcher and MIT professor emeritus Ed Schein, Humble Inquiry is a surprisingly engaging book that shares compelling stories and hard-won personal lessons. Whether you want to lead, to team or both, humility and curiosity are among the most important attributes. Humble Inquiry is "the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person." This is how you unleash people’s talents and efforts. But more broadly, humility in the face of the complex, dynamic, uncertain world in which we all live and work is simply realism.

The provocative, if deceptively academic, title Leadership and Self-Deception obscures the powerful humanity of this beautiful book. Its purpose is to convey a model of leadership driven by certain cognitive and emotional interpersonal dynamics. It does this through a story about a man facing challenges at work and home that should be painfully familiar to any high achiever. The book explores how we blind ourselves to harmful effects of some of our well-intentioned actions on others, letting ourselves of the hook and sealing us off from learning. Why should you care? Ultimately, the authors argue, it’s a matter of results. Our interpersonal strategies, despite good intentions, can unwittingly sabotage our own effectiveness — limiting the success of our organizations and ourselves. Anyone who reads this book and takes it seriously is poised for a transformational journey.