By: Chad McSwain on October 14, 2022
I cannot think of a more timely and poignant book that speaks to my leadership context than Failure of Nerve.1 It is the connection between family systems and the organizational life that leads me to consider my own leadership choices and how to grow as a “well-differentiated leader.”2 In particular, I will reflect on Friedman’s observations…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on October 14, 2022
Edwin H. Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve “Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix” shares insights that elicit lots of questions about leadership. Friedman focuses on the Leader’s presence and differentiation instead of relying on technique or knowledge. Even though he clarifies that he is not in support of autocracy, I wonder what he…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on October 13, 2022
I am slowly digesting the thoughts of Edwin Friedman as presented in his book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. Friedman’s main idea is that successful leaders operating in the current, highly anxious climate of the United States, must show up with a strong sense of self, an ability…
By: Alana Hayes on October 13, 2022
Friedman observed leadership of all levels within family, church, politics, and church. He is known for integrating therapy, organizational leadership and ministry. He also identified that problems begin in leadership when individuals do not stand firm in their beliefs. Not necessarily what you would initially identify of having lack of knowledge, skill, or technique. The…
By: Tonette Kellett on October 13, 2022
A Failure of Nerve challenged me in my thinking this week. I had to reconsider the way in which I thought about leadership roles. In considering the early explorers to the Americas, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Giovanni Verrazano, Friedman reminds us that they did not have any of the advantages our astronaut explorers have…
By: Caleb Lu on October 13, 2022
In his book A Failure of Nerve, Edwin Friedman moves from traditional thought by addressing poor leadership as an internal problem rather than an external one.[1] He posits that this internal problem is one that blocks imaginative growth because it has created a society that is “more oriented toward safety than adventure.”[2] Friedman continues by…
By: Michael O'Neill on October 13, 2022
To say “reading A Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Friedman was inspiring” would be an understatement and borderline insulting to my psyche. I’ve read several books on leadership but none like this. Most self-help books serve as temporary motivation for me and commonly become short-lived with minimal action. I can usually manipulate my way…
By: David Beavis on October 13, 2022
If Dr. Murray Bowen’s theory of family systems highlights the need for the self-differentiation of the most mature, non-anxious member of a family system,[1] Dr. Edwin Friedman’s Failure of Nerve applies this theory to organizations while illustrating how it works in cellular biology. The essence of Friedman’s exhortation for leaders – in his words, “from…
By: Sara Taylor Lattimore on October 12, 2022
Currently in the United States it can appear that empathy and even forgiveness is in short supply. So often the news is full of stories about who’s fault it is that something happened or we are constantly looking for who is to blame so that we can make sense of it all. IF we only…
By: Shonell Dillon on October 9, 2022
I have been watching HGTV for some years and even obtained contractors license during the pandemic. During the time when we were all stuck inside, I was remodeling and playing “Fixer Upper” with my dad. So when hearing the word threshold, that little piece of something in the doorway comes to mind. The thing that…
By: Laura Fleetwood on October 8, 2022
The ancient phrase crossing the threshold originates from a tradition in Roman mythology when grooms carried their bride across the threshold of a room after their wedding ceremony. Now we use this phrase to describe many kinds of transitions that occur in life. In 2003, J. Meyer and R. Land published an article called “Overcoming…
By: Chad McSwain on October 7, 2022
“You have to embrace your authority as a pastor.” That was a common theme in my conversations as I prepared for ordination. I would meet with my mentor pastor and she would consistently tell me to embrace my authority, or more accurately, the identity of being a pastor. It was a threshold that I needed…
By: Kristy Newport on October 7, 2022
The Mona Lisa has been credited as the most famous piece of art. How can this be accepted carte blanche? One must stop and consider this assertion. How has this one portrait been given this kind of notoriety? If a piece of art has been set apart by so many over a span of 519…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on October 6, 2022
According to the research and concluding theories of Jan Meyer and Ray Land, students can experience quite a range of success or lack of success, based on their ability to grasp and digest certain key concepts in the curriculum. Some students progress through the learning process easily and successfully, while others struggle to grasp these crucial…
By: Michael O'Neill on October 6, 2022
The carpenter in me sees the word “threshold” and immediately a transition strip or door trim of some kind comes to mind. The Kinesiologist in me sees “threshold” as a maximum output or delineation of a new system in the body activating. The student in me sees something completely unique in regard to learning and…
By: Daron George on October 6, 2022
Giving words to the moment is the thought that comes to mind when I consider this week’s readings from Jan H. F. Meyer and Ray Land’s works Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and practicing within the disciplines, and Threshold concepts in practice. For the past…
By: Tonette Kellett on October 6, 2022
This week’s readings and video on threshold concepts were enlightening for me. As I read, it brought to my remembrance many instances of situations in my own learning where I have irreversibly crossed the threshold, never to unlearn or un-see a thing again. I thought particularly of learning to read and write using the Korean…
By: Caleb Lu on October 6, 2022
Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land’s “Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding” introduce the ideas of “threshold concepts”. Threshold concepts, according to Meyer and Land, are “akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which…
By: Audrey Robinson on October 6, 2022
As I went through the threshold concepts, I kept thinking about the original Star Trek series – going into uncharted territory in space. As an educator, I can see a lot of relevance in the threshold concepts. However, moving ‘stuck’ students beyond the bottleneck in their thinking to a place of discovery is easier said…
By: Becca Hald on October 6, 2022
When I was in high school, there was a popular series of books and posters called “Magic Eye.” The images look like a mesh of color at first glance, but if you view them in a specific way, a three-dimensional image emerges. I remember looking at them in frustration, trying to see these images my…
