$1.$ What sticks the most with you after finishing this book? What is the most meaningful impression that you experienced while reading Leadership & Self$-$Deception? $23$ Birth of a Leader"Carol and Ileft Arizona the following night on the red$-$eye," Lou said. "We'd planned to spend a few days of R&R in San Diego before going home, but our plans had all changed. I$\text{'}$d heard that Kate would be starting her new job in the Bay Area in just a few days. I desperately hoped that I could catch her before she left. I needed to deliver something to her," he said, looking past me out the window again. "I needed to take her a ladder.""A ladder?" I asked."Yes, a ladder. One of the last things I did to Kate before she left," he recalled, "was demand that a ladder be removed from her sales area.Her department had decided to use the ladder as a visual aid in promoting some sales goals.I thought it was a stupid idea and told her so when she asked me about it$.$ But they went ahead and did it anyway. Later that night, I told the custodial staff to remove the ladder from the premises. Three days later, she andthe other four members of the March Meltdown group gave me their two$-$months' no$-$tice. I had them removed by our security staff within an hour$-$didn't even allow them to go back into their offices alone. Anyone who turned on me like that can't be trusted, I told myself. That was the last time I had seen or spoken with Kate."I can't explain it$,$ but I just knew that I needed to take her a ladder. It was a symbol of so much. And so I did."Carol and I arrived back at IFK at about $6$:$00$AM on Sunday. I had the limo driver drop Carol off at home and then take me by the office, where I rummaged through a half$-$dozen or so supply closets before I found a ladder. We tied it to the top of the car and headed up to Kate's place in Litchfield. It was about $9$:$30$ or so when I rang her doorbell, the ladder laid across my back."The door opened and I saw Kate, her eyes in wide surprise at the sight of me$.$ 'Now before you say anything, Kate, I said, 'I have something I've got to say, even though I don't know how I can ever begin to say it$.$ First of all, I$\text{'}$m sorry for just barging in on you on a Sunday morning, but it couldn't wait. I $...$ umm, I.."All of a sudden, Kate just busted up laugh$-$ing. 'Sorry, Lou, she said, doubled over against the doorjamb. 'I know you must have something serious to say or you wouldn't be here, but the sight of you hunched over with that ladder is just too much to take. Here, let me help you put it down.$\text{'}"$ 'Yeah, about the ladder, I said, 'that's as good a place to start as any. I never should've done what I did. I don't know why I did it$,$ to be honest. I shouldn't have even cared.$\text{'}"$Kate had stopped laughing by then and was listening intently. 'Look, Kate,$\text{'}$ I said, 'I've been a real jackass. You know that. Everyone knows it$.$ But I didn't know it until two days ago. Or I couldn't see it$,$ anyway. But I can sure see it now. And the sight of what I've done to the people I care about most in my life terrifies me$-$and that includes you."She just stood there, listening. I couldn't tell what she was thinking." 'I know that you've got something really good lined up$,$ I continued. 'And I$\text{'}$d never expect you to come back to Zagrum not after the way I've been. But I$\text{'}$m here to plead with you. There's something I've got to talk to you about, and then, if you tell me to$,$ I'll leave and never bother you again. But I see what I'vedone to mess this all up for everybody, and I think I have an idea of how to put it back to$-$gether. I've got to talk to you.$\text{'}"$She stepped back from the door. 'Okay,$\text{'}$ she said. 'I'll listen.$\text{'}"$Over the next three hours I tried my best to share with her what I$\text{'}$d learned about the box and everything else over the prior couple of days. I think I botched it pretty badly," Lou said, looking at me with a smile. "But it wasn't so important what I said. She could tell, whatever it was I was talking about, that I meant it$.$"Finally she said, 'Okay, Lou. But I have a question: If I were to come back, how would I know that this isn't just some temporary change? Why should I take the chance?$\text{'}"$I think my shoulders hunched a bit. I didn't know what to say. 'That's a good question, I said finally. 'I wish I could tell you not to worry.But I know myself better than that. And so do you. That's one of the things that I want to talk to you about. I need your help.$\text{'}"$I explained to her a rudimentary plan. 'Two things need to happen, I told her. 'First, we need to institute a process in our company where we help people to see how they're in the box and are therefore not focusing on results.Second$--$and this is key, especially for me per$-$sonally$--$we need to institute a system of focusing on results that keeps us out of the box much more than we have been: a way of think$-$ing, a way of measuring, a way of reporting, a way of working. For once we're out of the box I told her, 'there are a lot of things we can do to help keep us out while going forward. We need to institute such a system at Zagrum.$\text{'}"\text{'}$Do you have some ideas about that?$\text{'}$ she asked." 'Yes, a few. But I need your help, Kate, I said. 'Together we could figure out the best way to do it$.$ No one I know would be able to do it as well as you could.$\text{'}"$She sat there in thought. $\text{'}$I$\text{'}$m not sure,$\text{'}$ she said slowly. $\text{'}$I$\text{'}$m going to have to think about it$.$Can I call you?$\text{'}"\text{'}$Absolutely$.$ I'll be waiting by the phone.$\text{'}"24$ Another Chance"As you can gather," Lou said, "she called. I was given a second chance. And the Zagrum you've been admiring over these many years has been the result of that second chance."We made a lot of mistakes as we got restarted together. The only thing we did really well at the outset was to cover with our people the ideas you've learned over these last two days. We didn't necessarily know all the implications in the workplace, so at first we stayed at the level of the general ideas. And you know something? It made a big difference. Just what Bud's done for you these two days that alone, when learned by people in a common enter$-$prise, has a powerful, lasting effect. We know because we've measured the results over time."But over the last $20$ or so years, we've become much more sophisticated in the specific application of the material to business. As we became more out of the box as a company, we were able to identify and develop a spe$-$cific plan of action that minimizes the basic workplace self$-$betrayal that we've been talking about. Right out of the chute, when people generally are still out of the box toward their coworkers and the company, we introduce our people to this way of working together."Lou paused, and Bud jumped in$.$ "Our effort now is in three phases," he said. "Yesterday and today, you've begun what we call our Phase $1$ curriculum. It's all we had in the beginning, and it alone has tremendous im$-$pact. It's the foundation for everything that comes later. It's what makes our results here possible. Our work in Phases $2$ and $3$ will build on what we've covered by plugging you into a concrete and systematic way of focusing on and accomplishing results an 'account$-$ability transformation system' that minimizes self$-$betrayal at work and maximizes the company's bottom line. And it does this in a way that greatly reduces common organizational people problems.""Accountability transformation system?" I asked.Bud nodded. "Who are you focused on when you're in the box?""Myself mostly.""And what are you focused on when you're in the box?"I thought about it for a moment, and then said, $"$On being justified.""What if all the workers in an organization held themselves accountable for achieving a particular, concrete result? If they were truly accountable for this, would they be justified if they failed to accomplish that result?" I shook my head. "Probably not.""So they would therefore be focused on achieving a result rather than on being justi$-$fied. Right?""I suppose so$,"$ I said, wondering where Bud was going with this."And what if this result, by its very nature, required the workers to be thinking of others?"Ididn't answer immediately."Think about it$,"$ he continued. $"$If everyone was focused on others, who would they not be focused on$?""$Themselves$?"$ I ventured."Exactly. An in$-$the$-$box organization is filled with people who are focused on themselves and on being justified. Imagine, in contrast, an organization where everyone is focused on others and on achieving results."