By: Adam Harris on February 16, 2023
Several years ago I won a trip to Las Vegas for hitting my quarterly goals at a previous company. When we arrived we had one rule. We could not pay for anything. That was a fun rule to keep. Part of this agreement meant we got an allowance to play at the tables. I tried…
By: Esther Edwards on February 16, 2023
In past years, as one would observe a strong-willed child, the comment would often be made, “Well, he/she will make a great leader someday!” In other words, a strong will equals the ability to lead. In leadership circles, we often equate good leadership with numerical followership. “They must be an amazing pastor since their church…
By: Todd E Henley on February 16, 2023
Leadership” is a word which is much used nowadays, in many walks of life: politics, business, sports, education, the military, and even the church. According to Eve Poole in this fascinating book, the very use of the word is problematic. It implies a mysterious quality that people either have or don’t have. Instead, she coins…
By: Mathieu Yuill on February 15, 2023
When beginning my Masters journey in leadership and management, a colleague of mine asked me if you can actually learn leadership and if so, how does one teach it. It gave me pause – actually – it gave me great pause as I had never even pondered the question, “Can leadership be taught?” I was…
By: Jenny Dooley on February 14, 2023
Reading Leadersmithing, by Eve Poole took me down memory lane and sent me to my basement storage room searching for copies of Aesop’s Fables and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The mere mention of these books brought back delightful memories of reading these stories to my children and sobering moments of clarity about myself and…
By: John Fehlen on February 13, 2023
I’ve been reading, nay, freebasing (that’s the only drug term I know) leadership books, conferences, resources, consultations, seminars and symposiums for decades and decades. Like a “user,” I couldn’t get enough. If you put me in the business section of a bookstore I’m like a kid in a candy shop. I can quote John Maxwell…
By: Kim Sanford on February 13, 2023
I admit that I was not looking forward to reading Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership by Eve Poole. I figured it would be yet another book on leadership that doesn’t really apply to me because I don’t hold a traditional leadership role. Then Poole opens with a reference to Goya and his portrait…
By: Noel Liemam on February 11, 2023
‘Even one glass of wine a day raises the risk of cancer’ ‘Hate crimes have doubled in five years’ ‘Fizzy drinks make teenagers violent’ “How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Stats in the News.” (Tom Chivers & David Chivers) I was not able to get my book in time for the readings therefore, I…
By: Dinka Utomo on February 9, 2023
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure” – Goodhart’s Law – Living in a Swirl of Measure and Target Human life is filled with the process of “measuring”. Measuring the extent of achievement, how much income, how smart thinking. The greater and higher the achievement of man and…
By: Adam Harris on February 9, 2023
Twelve years ago, I drove to Ohio to interview a man who claimed he died and experienced “the other side”. Months earlier I had finished his book, My Descent into Death that described his spiritual journey while in France with his wife and college students. Howard was an art professor at the University of Kentucky…
By: Todd E Henley on February 9, 2023
While reading How to Read Numbers, I received two notifications on my phone about 15 seconds apart. The first one read, “Thousands Killed in Turkey-Syria Earthquake” [1]. The second one read, “40% of American children have a parent who works outside the traditional daytime schedule.” [2]. Normally, I would have responded to the second notice…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on February 9, 2023
My Relationship with Numbers Are you good with numbers? Are you a numbers person? Are you a writer or mathematician? I’ve heard these questions asked many times. It always felt a bit limiting to me. I never understood why you had to be one or the other. But I just accepted that being good at…
By: Mathieu Yuill on February 8, 2023
And I have the mugs to prove it. After the 15th consecutive year I had this honour bestowed on me unanimously by the judging panel, I made the decision that I would wait until I hit the 20 years or maybe even when I eclipsed the quarter century mark that I would start to speak publicly…
By: John Fehlen on February 6, 2023
I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was about 30 years old, had been a senior pastor for 3 years, and God was doing good things in our ministry. I was asked to preach at what would be the largest gathering of people that I had ever been in front of. It was…
By: Kim Sanford on February 5, 2023
I’ve just turned over the last page of How to Read Numbers; I’m vacillating between writing a cheerful blog post or a doomsday one. On one hand, that was a delightful read. Tom Chivers and David Chivers explain a complicated topic in a very approachable way. The sprinkling of dry humor and clever examples didn’t…
By: Jana Dluehosh on February 3, 2023
This last Wednesday was Feast of Saint Brigid, both a Celtic pagan festival and a Saints Day for the Irish Catholic Church. “Rites of initiation and installation, then, teach the lesson of the essential oneness of the individual and the group: seasonal festivals open a larger horizon;” [1]. This feast day and festival is for…
By: Dinka Utomo on February 3, 2023
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frighten us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of…
By: Adam Harris on February 2, 2023
Wow. Where to begin with Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero With A Thousand Faces? This is one of those books that has been on my radar for years after reading The Power of Myth, but I never quite got around to reading this one. It is dense, complex, and pulls together multiple fields of study to…
By: Mathieu Yuill on February 1, 2023
I was excited to tackle the reading this week. I’m a StoryBrand[1] Guide and use the hero’s journey as one of the introductory workshops we take clients through at my marketing and communications company, Leading With Nice., when we onboard them. I was familiar with Joseph Campbell’s[2] work the same way a lifelong Christian might…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on January 30, 2023
The Hero With A Thousand Faces is a book about discovering ourselves through myths and stories. It was my intention to complete the reading and the blog a week ahead to give myself time to pay greater attention to the posts of my cohort. I have discovered that writing on Thursday does not allow me…
