From “Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success” by Adam Grant In the 1830s, Lincoln was striving to be the DeWitt Clinton of Illinois, referencing a U.S. senator and New York governor who spearheaded the construction of the Erie canal. When Lincoln withdrew from his first Senate race to help Lyman Trumbull win […]
From “Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life” by Luke Burgis You probably follow at least a few people who function as unhealthy models of desire for you. It might be an acquaintance or former colleague, someone you follow on social media, or maybe even a former classmate whose career you’ve followed through
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From “Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner” by Frederick Buechner THE QUESTION IS not whether the things that happen to you are chance things or God’s things because, of course, they are both at once. There is no chance thing through which God cannot speak – even the walk from the house
From “How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion” by David McRaney What counts as dangerous ignorance or outdated dogma? What qualifies as a malignant tradition, defunct politics, or a misguided practice? What norms are so harmful, what beliefs are so incorrect that, once we know how to change minds, we should
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From “Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner” by Frederick Buechner LIFE ITSELF CAN BE thought of as an alphabet by which God graciously makes known his presence and purpose and power among us. Like the Hebrew alphabet, the alphabet of grace has no vowels, and in that sense his words to us
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From “The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything” by Stephen M. R. Covey Simply put, trust means confidence. The opposite of trust – distrust – is suspicion. When you trust people, you have confidence in them, in their integrity and in their abilities. When you distrust, you are suspicious of them –
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From “How Will You Measure Your Life?” by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon Frederick Herzberg, probably one of the most incisive writers on the topic of motivation theory, published a breakthrough article in the HBR… The theory distinguishes between two different types of factors: hygiene factors and motivation factors… Hygiene factors are
From “What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman” by Lerita Coleman Brown My interest in spirituality had begun many years ago, during college. Over the years, I read Catholic mystics like St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross; dabbled in Thomas Merton; studied Quaker mystics George Fox, Thomas
From “Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation” by Parker J. Palmer I was in my early thirties when I began, literally, to wake up to questions about my vocation. By all appearances, things were going well, but the soul does not put much stock in appearances. Seeking a path more purposeful
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From “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck, PhD When I was a young researcher, just starting out, something happened that changed my life. I was obsessed with understanding how people cope with failures, and I decided to study it by watching how students grapple with hard problems. So I brought children