Book Club

We're wired for connection—built in relationship to one another from our earliest moments. So why do we spend so much energy constructing walls between ourselves and others?

This book club session digs into the heart of mindset through two powerful stories: Miss Tam, an elderly Vietnamese woman in a healthcare facility, and William, an 18th-century farmer whose brutal behavior toward animals was mirrored back to him by his own son. Participants explore what triggers genuine mindset shifts—not gradual behavior modification, but the kind of "shock to the system" that jolts someone into seeing differently.

Through candid small-group discussions, participants wrestle with why we erect "man-made boundaries and imagined separations" despite knowing we're created for connection. The answers reveal uncomfortable truths: fear, comfort, control, pride, cultural conditioning, and the desire for power all drive us to distance ourselves from others. But these barriers come with massive opportunity costs—damaged relationships, missed learning, and the exhausting work of maintaining separation from people who matter.

The session surfaces a critical insight: being outward doesn't mean putting others first at your own expense. It means recognizing that others matter like you matter—equally, not more. That distinction changes everything about how we lead, parent, and show up in relationships.