“Where does the road to perdition begin? That’s why it’s good to put everything on paper, or so I’m told. To understand where the choices you’ve made began. Or which ones were made for you.”
“Demon Copperhead” is not a book from which you can easily extract motivational quotes suitable for the leadership area. Instead, it is an inspiring book that once you start reading, I assure you won’t put it down until you finish it.
The novel “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver was recommended to me by a dear person just before our Christmas party, so I put it on Santa’s list. To my joy, I received it and I enjoyed it like a spoiled child, although I didn’t know where it would take me mentally.
Why did I choose to talk about it? Not because I am a book critic, but because I got caught up in Demon’s journey through life, a real journey that many of us have experienced as the main character or just as spectators. A book that describes the situation of many teenagers today. Then came Cosmin’s challenge: “What book have you read that inspired you?”
I said I am not a book critic, so I won’t talk about how it is written, by the way – excellently, but I will try to draw some parallels between the events in the book and the situations encountered in professional life, when we strive to become the best in our field, when we want to be leaders in our universe.
Demon is a child who, from the early parts of his life, faces all kinds of situations that he must overcome in order to survive. To be able to overcome them, the author has portrayed him with traits necessary to overcome the challenges.
I will list a few, maybe I will spark your interest to read the novel and recommend it further.
Managing problem behaviors.
The novel offers many examples, I could say dark ones, in which our character is forced to choose between good and evil, both in terms of his thoughts and the collective ones – those of the group he belonged to.
Demon chooses every time to confront those “inner demons” – in technical terms – his personal filter to confront and calm them, and then to identify ways to solve complex and complicated situations. In leadership, we approach this aspect through the strengths and areas of improvement in the SWOT method. Every leader should know their qualities and flaws, how they respond to them in different contexts, and, of course, how to address them to achieve the expected results.
Although Demon’s experiences are varied and for many of us seem extreme, he always manages to find motivation to move forward, and when allowed, he successfully motivates those around him. The similarity, in this case, is easily identified because we are aware that only an authentic leader inspires, motivates, and provides support to the team throughout the processes they overcome together.
Subjected to the whims of the environment in which he lived, the death of his mother, the change of foster parents, due to his talent – drawing through comic strips, Demon manages to successfully overcome the obstacles that arise in his life (here I gave a spoiler about the end of the novel). I strongly believe that both creativity and unconventional thinking are skills that can help present leaders find innovative solutions to new and challenging situations within the team or company.
I believe that when viewed from the perspective of the new skills demanded of leaders: creativity, storytelling, learning through metaphors, this novel is a powerful source of inspiration.
By the way! What book have you read recently that made you change a behavior or prompted you to introspection?
