# Leadership Readings & Discussions



## Marauder06 (Jan 11, 2012)

I recently read "The Inner Ring" by C.S. Lewis as part of one of the classes I was taking.  I thought it was a brilliant an insightful read.  Here is a link:  http://www.lewissociety.org/innerring.php

Some of my thoughts and quotes from the reading:

-What Lewis refers to as "the inner ring," we may now recognize as an "in-group."  Every organization and profession has them.

-The War and Peace excerpt is an excellent example of the formal vs. informal chains of command.

-The desire to be in the "inner ring" (whatever that is in your own life) is one of the "fundamental desires of human nature."

-The *existence* of an inner ring may not necessarily a bad thing, but the *desire* to be a part of it, for its own sake, may be. 

-The desire to be part of the inner ring may drive good people to do bad things.

-"Friendship causes half of the world's happiness- and the inner ring cannot have it."

-The inner ring would be no fun if you couldn't exclude people from it.

Summary:  If you are true to yourself & to the principles of your profession, you will be part of the in-group that really matters, and you'll be happy.


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