By: Telile Fikru Badecha on June 20, 2014
Doris Kearns, in her book, Team of Rivals: The Political genius of Abraham Lincoln, eloquently writes the story Abraham Lincoln, America’s greatest president and his three competitors, William Henry Seward, Salmon Portland Chase, and Edward Bates for the Republican nomination for the presidency of the United States in 1860s. I especially enjoyed reading about the…
By: gfesadmin on June 20, 2014
I continue to draw and glean from our reading of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. In the several weeks since I finished our reading there are several traits that I continue to reflect upon, ones I hope to carry with me in my own leadership development. Among…
By: Richard Volzke on June 20, 2014
Listening to the audiobook, Team of Rivals by Goodwin, provided interesting insight on effective leadership. The author used Abraham Lincoln as an example of how one can develop leadership ability throughout their lifetime. Lincoln’s leadership style is relevant in today’s culture and there is much we can learn from his life and presidency. The book…
By: Bill Dobrenen on June 19, 2014
I will never forget my first reading of the Lord of the Rings. I loved Tolkien’s characters, especially Frodo and Samwise Gamgee. Although Frodo and Sam loved each other deeply, they did not always agree – especially about how to deal with Gollum – the obvious antagonist in the story. Sam was at times ready…
By: Stefania Tarasut on June 19, 2014
There are a few things that I noticed as I read through Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin over the past couple of weeks. First, you don’t always have to be the best… all you can do is your best today. Goodwin suggests that Lincoln made the decision to be a second choice nominee…
By: rhbaker275 on June 19, 2014
Dores Kearns Goodwin in Team of Rivals attributes Lincoln’s defeat of his contenders for the Republican nomination to Lincoln’s being the “shrewdest and canniest of them all.”[1] In the aftermath of the general election to the presidency, Lincoln incorporated each of his rivals into his leadership cabinet, as well as opposition party leaders. Such an…
By: Deve Persad on June 19, 2014
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51) Leadership capacity has been written about exhaustively. Endless is the list of skills to acquire and strategies to employ in order to accomplish those goals and ideals that one would want to pursue. In common…
By: John Woodward on June 19, 2014
Serving in a number churches over the years, I found the common practice of most church leaders was to surround themselves with like-minded people. Often ministers would subtly craft their eldership and leadership teams with their protégés, placing in positions of influence those who not only saw things their way, but faithfully towed-the-line. What resulted…
By: Liz Linssen on June 19, 2014
Lincoln was a man who not only engineered the war victory that brought a great nation together, but who did so through exercising exceptional and humble leadership skills. He was a man who had a strong sense of purpose for his life, coupled with a clear vision: that “the weights should be lifted from the…
By: Ashley Goad on June 11, 2014
(Note: Time to go to Uganda…hence the early post! Hugs, friends!) As a former political science major, I love politics. I love historical biographies, and I especially love reading about Presidents of the United States. George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln are my favorite subject matters! It should come as no…
By: Clint Baldwin on May 19, 2014
For this last week, a goal was to focus on practicing a “new” skill for twenty hours in hopes of acquiring at least rudimentary capability with that skill. The idea for this endeavor arose from the text, “The First 20 Hours: How To Learn Anything…Fast” by Josh Kaufman. My initial idea had been to add-in…
By: Telile Fikru Badecha on May 19, 2014
Josh Haufman, The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything…Fast, is a very fun read. Haufman shares so many great ideas on how to learn new skills. The author argues, “deliberate practice is the core of skill acquisition” (p.4). He also recommends the idea of “sufficiency” as a key to rapid skill acquisition (p.5), thus…
By: Bill Dobrenen on May 18, 2014
I bought a good Canon camera in October after returning from the London Advance. I wanted one just like Ashley’s since her pictures were so good! For the most part, for the past several months, my camera has remained in its case. This assignment, however, prompted me to take it out of the case and…
By: Miriam Mendez on May 18, 2014
When I first learned of this assignment my mind was flooded with so many possibilities. Perhaps I can learn to build a website or some other technological skill. Or I can learn how to knit and gift family and friends with scarfs or socks for Christmas! Or I can re-learn Greek so that I can…
By: Mitch Arbelaez on May 18, 2014
The first struggle I had was to chose only one thing to learn. I, like Haufman have that “Renaissance man temperament.” Call it what you like, I have one. You know, “the dream list,” “the wish list,” “the what-would-you-do-with-a-million-dollars list” or “the bucket list.” So many things to do with so little time to accomplish…
By: Michael Badriaki on May 18, 2014
From childhood, I was encouraged to always be willing to learn as much as I can. For some, learning new things is an option, but for most people in Africa, learning is a necessary skill for survival, connectivity and earned success. Learning and education are themes I grew up around. The opportunity to learn different…
By: Richard Volzke on May 17, 2014
Kaufman, in The First 20 hours: How to Learn Anything…Fast!, provides a checklist of things that we can do to help ourselves learn a new skill more effectively. If we follow his recommendations, Kaufman suggests that we may be able to learn a new skill in approximately twenty hours. Research the skill and related topics. Jump…
By: Carol McLaughlin on May 17, 2014
I confess the Josh Kaufman’s book was a fun read last weekend while sitting in the car on my way to Pullman, WA to see my daughter receive her Master’s Degree from Washington State University (Go Cougs!). I knew a few things straightaway. I have no desire to learn to touch type even if it…
By: Liz Linssen on May 17, 2014
Going through The First 20 Hours, I wrestled with deciding what to learn. The Ukulele had completely different finger chords to the guitar, so that would just confuse me. Windsurfing is not exactly a popular sport in South Wales (although we certainly do have the wind for it!). And I figured ‘Go’ might just frazzle…
By: John Woodward on May 17, 2014
Reading Josh Kaufman’s The First 20 Hours, I discovered why learning to use my Nikon D-90 was so frustrating. My first problem was that I would take the camera out only when I went on mission trips or on personal travel, which meant that sometimes it would sit idol for upwards of six months or…
