“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the inside out. The world would they take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people and then they take themselves out of the slums.”
These words of Benson are the schematic upon which the author crafts his “inside-out paradigm.” Essentially, this is strategy formulated by the author for becoming effective by mapping a journey to success. One must first look at the world as it is actually is and then imagine that world as they would like it to be. The rest of the journey is from the inside-out: making what you want inside a destination in the real world outside.
“A paradigm is like a pair of glasses; it affects the way you see everything in your life.”
Paradigmatic thinking is the centerpiece of the author’s advice for becoming effective. It is just one of the many buzzwords that are sprinkled throughout the text, but unlike a good many such books, Covey situates the buzz within a concrete foundation. The overarching message here is that in order to reach the point of truly being an effective manager, one must first be absolutely clear on the results they are seeking. Creating a vision of the destination is absolutely indispensable to journey; without knowing where one is heading, how can one hope to get there.
“Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.”
Covey turns to the great German poet-philosopher here, but he could equally well have quoted from a song in My Fair Lady. The point coming back to the dominant message of the book: you have to see it before you can be it. Goethe is basically summarizing the plot of My Fair Lady in this quote (though it was written long after his death). The musical is about a vulgar, lower class Cockney girl who is transformed into a proper British lady by a professor who saw the world as it was (the Cockney girl) and saw what he wanted to make it (the proper British lady) and by working toward that destination transformed the nature of reality.
“I just can't understand my kid. He just won't listen to me at all.”
This assertion by an unidentified father so stuns the author that he repeats it back to the man. The man blankly replies back, “That’s right.” The author tries to make his point again by repeating what the man said. And again the man thinks he’s just repeating what he already said. Finally, the author gives up and says that he was under the impression that understanding someone else involves listening to them. The bulb turns on and the light flashes and illumination is finally attained. The ultimate point of this story is to illustrate the paradoxical nature of the human race: the tendency to seeking understanding of ourselves by others before trying to understand others ourselves.
