Overview
Another set of lenses by Steve Hall is packed with insights gleaned from his keen observational eye . His many interests such as tracking in the bush, and years of experience in leadership facilitation have given him the ability to hone in on the kernel of a story.
In this, his first book, he weaves together many stories and characters he’s collected over the years. He uses them to illustrate six polarities, each of which has two opposing views on how we might experience the world.
As the title suggests, the stories he tells gives us the opportunity to view each opposing view through a different lens or perspective. But first, he explains his motivation for writing. He had one memorable and seminal meeting with Nelson Mandela as a young adult. He remembers something the statesman said to him that helped give him direction.
‘You did what you did with the information you had at the time. The question is what are you going to do from now on?’
Nelson Mandela
He explains that human behaviour and motivation can be boiled down to three simple words. See. Do. Get.
How we see the world affects how we act – what we do – and our actions determine our outcome – what we get. And if we want to change our outcomes, we need to change our outlook.
Each of the six polarities explained in the book challenges us to look at an aspect of our worldview. They are guiding principles. And each one is packed with examples of people the author has encountered. The book is rich with references to history, philosophy and wisdom gleaned from experience.
In each polarity you will will come to understand the red lens and the blue lens on things as the author explains it. The red lens tends to think of life in finite and even threatening ways. The blue lens is one where our view on the world is one where we rather see complexity and opportunity. It is an open and more optimistic view of life.
Why you should read it
Anyone can benefit from reading this book. It is rich with valuable material learned over a lifetime and distilled with care. It can serve as inspiration to fortify your mindset at any stage of life. When making transitions such as retiring it can be especially useful to challenge our mindsets for a better outcome. What we see, how we act and what our outcomes will be is up to us.
You may already be wearing a set of blue lenses in which case the stories in the book will encourage you to identify others who do the same.
