By: Audrey Robinson on April 27, 2023
I don’t describe myself as seeing the world through a full-glass lens, but I’m also not a half-empty-glass person. Even though this is comparing apples to oranges, glass half full notion compared to the ten reasons we’re wrong outlined in Factfulness, it does represent how I tend to generalize things. But then the generalization instinct…
By: Mathieu Yuill on April 26, 2023
My company often describes itself to people as “your marketing department,” because you can’t hire us to create one graphic or one email. Typically we need to be invited into your company or nonprofit so we can learn about the organization, its culture and people. What I’ve learned these last five years since founding Leading…
By: Tim Clark on April 26, 2023
I once heard someone say that joy is one of the most punk rock attributes a person can have. That it rebels against the world’s system. That it is the ultimate alternative to the cynicism we are so easily sucked into. When I was reading Cascades by Greg Satell I couldn’t stop thinking about that…
By: Michael O'Neill on April 26, 2023
Factfulness, by Hans and Anna Rosling Ronnlund, is a book that challenges readers to confront their preconceived notions of the world and its inhabitants. Exploring the facts about global development and poverty reduction shows how even seemingly intractable problems can be addressed in ways that benefit all participants. It also offers insight into decisions based…
By: Daron George on April 26, 2023
Introduction Edwin Friedman’s book, A Failure of Nerve, delves into the complexities of human relationships and the challenges that can arise within them. As I revisit this book for the second time, I’ve decided to focus on a particular paragraph that has captured my attention. In this paragraph, Friedman writes, “Anyone who has ever been…
By: Shonell Dillon on April 26, 2023
The Great Transformation As we sit back and watch the economy change from year to year, one can’t help but wonder what the driving force is. There is constant talk of recession and prices are soaring in every industry. Who or what controls these changes? Some of the answers may become evident in what Polanyi…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on April 26, 2023
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We Are Wrong about the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think is another amazing one of those resources shared on our reading list. Hans is Rosling, a Swedish physician, public speaker, and academician. When asked simple questions about global trends – what percentage of the world’s population lives…
By: Pam Lau on April 25, 2023
In 2001, I met with a small group of women in Newberg, Oregon for the single purpose of connection. Most of us had recently moved from across the country; one woman relocated from Russia. Another had been living in Newberg for more than a decade. Each week, huddled in a circle sipping coffee, one person…
By: Becca Hald on April 25, 2023
“Look Mommy, it’s a Hidden Mickey!” My daughter was no more than eight or nine at the time. She pointed to a knot in the wood on the table at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. I chose not to dash her imagination and tell her that it was not an intentional “Hidden Mickey,” it was just…
By: Shonell Dillon on April 25, 2023
Factfulness Eight out of ten of my clients may be working on changing negative thoughts during my weekly sessions. Their anxious feelings have overwhelmed them and taken over their thinking process. How did this happen? NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) says that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to these feelings of fear, worry,…
By: Chad McSwain on April 25, 2023
I am one of those people who can be inspired merely by the statistics. Which is the point that Hans Rolling is making with his seminal book, Factfulness[1]. It is a book all about challenging how we view the world through faulty perceptions that lead to wrong, pessimistic conclusions about the state we are in…
By: Becca Hald on April 25, 2023
Megachurch Introduces Frequent Tither Rewards Card “NASHVILLE, TN – In a bid to increase giving ahead of the organization’s upcoming $40 million sanctuary expansion, local megachurch LifeJourney Church announced Monday its new frequent tither rewards card, as part of a program designed to incentivize more regular giving to the church.”[1] The title is meant to…
By: Esther Edwards on April 24, 2023
The premise of Greg Satell’s book “Cascades” is clear and simple: “Small groups, loosely connected, but united by a common purpose” can cause a monumental cascade of change.[1] Satell surmises that power is no longer in the hands of the top hierarchies but in the center of networks.[2] Satell parades an array of examples throughout…
By: Becca Hald on April 24, 2023
Vincent J. Miller depicts the commodification of religion in his book Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture. In a blog review of this book, pastor W. David O. Taylor writes, “The short version of his thesis is this: the problem with a so-called consumer culture does not, ultimately, lie at the…
By: Jennifer Vernam on April 24, 2023
It’s the end of the term and, like the rest of you, my brain is tired. When my brain is tired, I start to revert to what is familiar. So as I was reading Cascades[1] I found myself wanting to anchor the material to an area with which I am already familiar. I will take…
By: Travis Vaughn on April 24, 2023
In Cascades, Greg Satell argues that “power no longer resides at the top of hierarchies, but at the center of networks.”[1] Satell’s network dynamics include “small groups, loosely connected, but united by a common purpose.”[2] And if a leader needs “interconnectivity and interdependence”[3] to be effective, then perhaps this is at least part of the…
By: Alana Hayes on April 24, 2023
Karl Polanyi’s 1944 book “The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time” is considered a classic work of economic history… Polanyi argues in this book that the rise of the market economy in nineteenth-century Europe was a deeply political and social process that required significant state intervention, and that the market-led transformation…
By: Tonette Kellett on April 24, 2023
This week’s book was Factfulness written by Hans Rosling. It was an unusual read and I enjoyed it. The author puts forth ten instincts that we as human beings tend to hold as true problems in the world. Each instinct is dramatic and negative. Then he offers factual solutions for these problems. Thus the title…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on April 24, 2023
I read the title and instantly envisioned a beautiful waterfall with water cascading down the side of a breathtaking rock formation. I could almost hear it. That image brought forth an image of a tropical paradise. I think it might be pretty common to summon this peaceful image at the end of a very challenging…
By: Laura Fleetwood on April 24, 2023
“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” [1] This simple definition of leadership is how Northouse introduces his book by the same name, yet as this book proves, effective leadership is anything but simple. Leadership by Northouse is a comprehensive exploration of the theory and…
