The Leadership Vision Podcast

Book Announcement! Unfolded: Lessons in Transformation from an Origami Crane

• Nathan Freeburg • Season 8 • Episode 12

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In this episode, we announce the upcoming release of Unfolded: Lessons in Transformation from an Origami Crane—a powerful new book by Dr. Linda and Brian Schubring. Learn why they chose an allegory to share their leadership philosophy, what an origami crane can teach us about transformation, and how each of us holds a personal map that can guide our journey.

Key Topics:

  • Why Unfolded is an allegory, not a traditional leadership book
  • The metaphor of origami: how our lives are shaped and reshaped
  • Introduction to OC, the origami crane protagonist
  • The meaning of transformation vs. change
  • How reflection leads to personal growth
  • What readers can expect in terms of content and takeaway

Memorable Quotes:

“Unfolding leaves creases.” – Dr. Linda Schubring


“Origami reminds us we can always be refolded into something new.” – Brian Schubring


 “This book is an invitation to consider your story, your dreams, and the people who shape you.” – Dr. Linda Schubring


Pre-Order the Book:

Release Date: June 4, 2025
Pre-order now: schubrings.com

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The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in discovering, practicing, and implementing a Strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. Contact us to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Leadership Vision podcast, as promised. If you remember, from last week, we said we're going to have a very special announcement and I am so excited to share this announcement with you. But I'm going to let Dr Linda and Brian Shubring share it with you. Take it away.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, nathan, we are excited. We're excited to announce the release of our book. Woohoo. Insert applause. We're excited to announce the release of our book.

Speaker 3:

Insert applause. Our book is titled Unfolded Lessons and Transformation from an Origami Crane. It's a story, it's an allegory and a guide that imparts a philosophy and a strategy that you need to meet your full potential, cultivate better relationships and grow your leadership capacity. What we want to do is invite you to discover how you can transform your life through our book.

Speaker 2:

Unfolded. We are so excited to let the world know that we have been working with Wiley Publishing and this story. This book will be launched and released in June of 2025. We have been writing and weaving this story together probably before Brian and I were even together, and I think there are clients and loved ones that we know. You may read this book and begin to wonder am I in the story? And probably yes, probably yes. This book is an amalgamation of our life experience, our life work and the kinds of people that we have been shaped by and learned from over the years.

Speaker 1:

So why an allegory? I'm curious why you chose that format rather than I don't know, a textbook or a novel, or any of the other formats you could have chosen.

Speaker 3:

Well, one of the reasons why we chose an allegory is because one of the primary things that we do in our consulting and coaching is we listen. We listen to people's stories, and so one of the ideas I have is how can we tell a story that represents the work that we do without actually telling people what to do? And so, as we all know, an allegory is a story that has layers of meaning, and the meaning is interpreted by the reader, and when a reader is reading an allegory, they can see themselves in a lot of things. They can see themselves in the main character or supporting characters, they can see themselves woven into the plot or the places that are represented, and so an allegory is very invitational as well as open to an individual's interpretation of the meaning, to wherever they find themselves in their lives.

Speaker 2:

And our allegory is short and our allegory is accessible on purpose and it's the story of origami animals that live in a playground together and, as Brian said, it is layered with meaning and it's layered with insight that you can discover, uncover or, quite frankly, unfold. Then the final part of our book is this opportunity to reflect, to encourage you to take action, and it gives you a little behind the scenes of the story itself and, at the end of the day, we want you to see the world through the eyes of this origami crane who dreams of becoming a paper plane, and we hope that this work will inspire you, and inspire you to meet your full potential, cultivate better relationships and grow your leadership capacity.

Speaker 1:

So the book comes out this year, june 4th 2025. You can pre-order a copy today, right now. Go stop what you're doing and go do this Shoebringscom. There's also a link in the show notes to pre-order your copy of Unfolded Lessons in Transformation from an Origami Crane Origami, what I think. People sort of know what that is, but why origami? What does this have to do with anything here?

Speaker 3:

Well, one of the reasons why I chose origami as a metaphor is because I really believe that our lives represent some of the fundamental principles of origami.

Speaker 3:

When we show up into a relationship or at our jobs or anywhere that we go, we show up with a certain representation of who we are, and that representation of who we are and our identity has been shaped, molded and folded by the people, the places and the experiences of our life. And most of the time, we don't really pay a lot of attention to who or how we've been shaped, and sometimes people believe that the shape that we're in today is the shape we need to stay. But the important thing to know about origami is that almost all origami characters start with the same principle, and that is a square piece of paper, and so, despite the shape we're in today, there's always the potential to dream again, to receive permission to change and to begin an unfolding process to become something or someone different than we are today. So origami represents how we got here, it represents our potential and it also represents the future shape of who we are.

Speaker 2:

And the origami crane is just the most common.

Speaker 3:

And why the origami crane? Because when I was thinking about which character to choose as the central character for the book, I simply Googled what is the most internationally recognized origami character, and it was the origami crane, so that was clearly the place I was going to start.

Speaker 2:

And we know that origami actually translated means folded paper and I have fallen in love with our character, OC, which stands for Origami Crane we call her OC for short and I was intrigued right away about what Brian had started to dream up. And one thing led to another and we began to write this book together and I could tell you a little bit more about the why of the book. But I'm so excited about this character named OC that I really have come to admire and learn about, Because it's one thing to start with the why, it's another thing to start with the who, and we want to introduce you to OC. She's our female protagonist.

Speaker 2:

Knowing us, knowing Brian in particular, and knowing the shaping influences of matriarchs in our life, we knew that this main character had to be female. And this main character is complex. She is community oriented and she has the courage and curiosity to dream a big dream. Oc lives in a playground with other origami characters who represent a myriad of voices around us and, quite frankly, sometimes those voices are inside of our head. So we're excited for you to meet OC.

Speaker 1:

I love this metaphor. We were at some craft fair once and there was this person there doing live origami. Basically, they just had a piece of paper and they were folding it and transforming it and it was sort of like trying to guess what is it going to be. So talk about that specific word lessons in transformation from an origami crane. What does transformation here mean?

Speaker 2:

Well, we wrestled with a variety of words, because, was it change, was it growth? And when we hearken back to even why we do our work at Leadership Vision, it is to transform how leaders express their beauty and brilliance for the benefit of humanity, and it's that part of transformation that we are talking about. The transformation that we are talking about is not flipping a switch and saying okay, now we're new, now things have changed. We know that transformation involves bumps and bruises and tries. It involves unlearning, learning, folding and unfolding. What we have found is that transformation is what happens on the inside.

Speaker 3:

And the reason why we want to invite people just into this idea of what does transformation mean for me is because we want to, from the beginning, simply communicate that we're not talking about a change or even a series of changes, because transformation involves a series of changes, because transformation involves series of changes ways that we practice and play with one another, the ways that we have to ask for help from different people and from different experiences. And transformation usually takes some time, and I think that for those of us that have had to go through some type of transformation, we realize how much of a change in our personality, in our dynamic, actually happens at the other end of the transformation and that's the journey that this book talks about is what does it take for us to really begin to dream and to begin to unfold our potential to fulfill and to reach for those dreams?

Speaker 2:

And transformation. The lessons are endless. So there were lessons that we put in the story in particular, and then when we had pre-readers go through our manuscript and give edits and suggestions and all of those things, there were lessons that they were learning and reflecting back to us that we didn't necessarily intend, but we started to realize this is not just a fable. This is an allegory with layered meaning.

Speaker 1:

I'm excited when we do more of a deep dive into this book later, because I think there'll be an entire podcast on just my takeaways and all of my notes.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I like that, so it'll be fun to have a little author's.

Speaker 1:

You know, ask the author, but it'll just be me asking the two of you. Unfolded Lessons in Transformation from an Origami Crane. Origami is the art of folding paper. Unfolded seems like the opposite.

Speaker 2:

Talk to us about that part of the title. Well, I want to start by saying this Sometimes we are unfolded by choice we choose to unfold and not be in the same shape that we're in. And there are other times that, being unfolded by choice, we choose to unfold and not be in the same shape that we're in. And there are other times that being unfolded is a result of circumstance. And the unique quality of characters in our story is that origami animals are made from all different kinds of maps and, as Brian mentioned earlier, squares, so square maps, and part of the maps we see and part of the maps are folded away.

Speaker 3:

What's important to our allegory is that each character is made of a map. Each map is unique and individual to that specific character, and that metaphor of map is a representation about how each one of us have an internal map, an internal landscape that represents our unique character, our qualities, our values, our interests, our behaviors, our beliefs, our attitudes, and many times, the very qualities that we rely on the most could be the ones that are folded to be seen by others. And the reason why the map metaphor is so important is because through the unfolding process and through the process of transformation, we begin to learn more about ourselves. It's an internal journey of discovering and being invited to know ourselves in ways that we didn't know before, and then to ask ourselves what about this new part of me that I'm learning? Or what about this part of me that I'm being reminded of? Do I want that part of me to be now refolded into something that other people see?

Speaker 3:

Now there are some parts of each one of our maps and I'm sure that many people can think of experiences or relationships or things that have happened that they want to remain hidden, like that part of the map isn't for anybody else to see but me and we want to give people permission to always keep that part folded away, because our life isn't to be seen or to be read or to be interpreted by all people all the time.

Speaker 3:

So there's this sense of recognizing who we are and how do we want to express our beauty and brilliance. And there's also this sense of those challenging times, those trying times, the times when we've struggled, that those can be kept folded away and to be a resource to remind us of what it means to endure through suffering and what it means to really double down on what we believe in. And this idea that we are a map means that the answers are within us, the pathways are to be discovered, and even understanding the horizon that we're directing ourselves to may be known, through a process of unfolding and reflection, to then refold and apply that to pursuing our dreams.

Speaker 2:

And unfolding leaves creases.

Speaker 3:

So part of the unique thing about an unfolded crane is you're quick to recognize the mountain folds that form the rises in the shape, and you're also quick to recognize some of the valley folds that represent some of the maybe more trying times in our lives and some of the secondary folds that are there. But each one of us have a unique texture to how we've been raised, to how our experiences have shaped us, and part of our exploration of transformation is to accept the folds and the creases that are also a part of our life, that give us our uniqueness.

Speaker 1:

One of my kids got an origami book for Christmas one year and I remember we were trying to put it you know, fold something and they're like I'm not doing this right. And so I kind of took it, unfolded it and kind of redid it and I was like, oh, here's where you went wrong. But I was like, oh, these folds were right, these folds were right. And so it's interesting when you think about how your life is, there's certain things you think you've made a mistake in. But actually that crease, that fold, actually was right, but maybe in the wrong order at the wrong time or whatever it is. So I'm excited for people to get their hands on this book and take their own meaning out of it. So, with that in mind, my last question if there's one thing that you hope readers walk away from, what would that be?

Speaker 2:

If there's one thing that you hope readers walk away from, what would that be? For me, the one thing is that readers would receive the invitation to consider your own story, your own dreams whether you dream them yourselves or other people have been dreaming for you and you have to live that out that you begin to wonder about the people and places that shape who you are and start to consider who you are doing life with, work with and what you can learn by being with other people and looking at your life.

Speaker 1:

Brian, what about you? What's the one thing you hope people take away from this book?

Speaker 3:

One of the things that I hope people take away from this book is that there is hope when we live in a world where there's so much noise and distraction, where things seem to be constantly changing, when the voices of social media seem to drown out our own sense of clarity. What I hope people take away from all this is that there is a treasure to be discovered with inside of all of us Now. There are lessons that we have learned that we can apply to the world outside of us. My hope is that people will learn that there are answers and clarity to be discovered within us, that there is hidden potential within each one of us to face whatever it is that's happening around us.

Speaker 2:

So one more thing, nathan. One more thing. I want to say yeah, because the book, in between all the chapters and the different components, are meditations written by Brian, and for those of you that know Brian well, you know that he spends his mornings and early mornings. Some people call them nights maybe people are daughter's age yes, call them night still, and he is up writing, and some of the meditations are some of the most beautiful work that Brian has ever written. Announce the book. Brian wrote a meditation that's not found in the book but is just to highlight what we're seeking to do with this book and this movement of sorts. And so, brian, will you read your meditation?

Speaker 3:

All right, we'll have to edit this part.

Speaker 2:

Let me cue the music Go.

Speaker 3:

Like real music.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

There is a beauty and brilliance within each of us to accept, awaken and amplify, for ourselves to be seen, honored, dignified. Our talent is a treasure, our unique and unlimited potential awaiting to be unfolded and released. Setting ourselves free, our beauty and brilliance is to be recognized and celebrated. It is a light to lead us within and among our internal map, for this map is our sacred imprint. Our map is an uncharted landscape awaiting for us to encounter, for here, within the unexpected and the unknown, lies everything we need Answers, clarity, abilities and dreams. For the fulfillment of our dream awaits us our dreams for life and love, relationship and purpose, meaning and belonging. All of it is here within us, found within our maps and relationships, to be discovered and known, unfolded and reshaped. Alive and free. May I be so.

Speaker 2:

May I be so.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture. We would love to invite you to go to shoobringscom there's a link in the show notes and pre-order your copy of Unfolded Lessons in Transformation from an Origami Crane, available on June 4th 2025.