Look Inside by Tim Wilke

Allegory for Meaningful Leadership

This is an allegorical book that means to teach about leadership success through story. (I believe brain science supports that we do learn best through story.) Ruby and Byron are two managers who have different concepts of what leadership success looks like. At a fair, they visit a magical manor where they are each given a different box of leadership tools. They are told that mentors will follow up with them to help them better use the tools. Byron is the type of boss who thinks he should decree everything his employees do while Ruby is a leader who prefers to empower the people she works with. The tools in each of their boxes correlate with their managerial style.

Which one will come to appreciate what it means to be a leader and how to act on it? Will they both end up feeling that their personal style is still the right way?

While this book won’t be seen as great literature, the principles of success in leadership that it espouses ring true. A boss is not a leader necessarily; unfortunately, not all bosses understand that. It takes a certain level of trust to truly lead, which is something that many would-be leaders have a hard time both engendering and allowing.

At the end, the book summarizes the key concepts and has suggestions about how to incorporate this allegorical tale into the workplace. The lessons in this book would make the workplace a better place for both employees and managers as they work together to meet the company’s needs.