Cody Hall

I picked this one up from the library last week and it is engaging. It’s paced well, starting out with the classic recounting of the key-on-a-kite experiment that proved the connection between lightning and electricity.

From the Goodreads summary:
In Ingenious, Richard Munson recovers this vital part of Franklin’s story, reveals his modern relevance, and offers a compelling portrait of a shrewd experimenter, clever innovator, and visionary physicist whose fame opened doors to negotiate French support and funding for American independence. Munson’s riveting narrative explores how science underpins Franklin’s entire story—from tradesman to inventor to nation-founder.

I got this one from my brother as a Christmas gift. I love it when people get me books from my Want To Read list on Goodreads *hint hint*. Cahill chronicles how Irish “monks and scribes laboriously, lovingly, even playfully preserved the west’s written treasures.” I’d never heard about this “little-known ‘hinge’ of history” and Cahill has written a page-turner here.

I’m continuing to work my way through The Crux by Richard Rumelt. It’s the most practical, helpful book on strategy I’ve read to date. I’ve already put into practice several learnings at various leadership levels in my ministry at SonSet Solutions.

Here’s another book I’m reading as part of my biblical counseling certification through the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. Jim Newheiser is one of the ACBC OGs. This book is well done, rooted and grounded in Scripture, and practical in its application. It will remain a resource for me as I move forward in counseling folks, especially those dealing with anger.

I’ve read a few things from Patrick Lencioni and generally would give his stuff 4/5 stars. In this book, he writes in a story/fable format which makes his lessons easier for some to grasp. A fable approach tends to make me impatient; I’d rather just have the lessons and his rationale.

Overall, his Six Types of Working Genius system has potential and makes sense. But, these systems are only useful to the degree they actually unlock deeper relationships with your teammates and increase effectiveness on your team. Implementing systems requires an investment of time. Often, leaders who try to move toward systems/frameworks like this encounter resistance in the form of, “How is this going to help? Just let us do our work!” I’ve run into similar barriers on the engineering team I lead while exploring other systems.