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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
KCK Author Promotes New Book: Now Will You Serve Me?
¶ 7/22/2008 10:05:00 PM 0 comments
Now Will You Serve Me? A Collection of Inspirational Reflections for Your Life Journey
This book developed from my writing the first poem titled� Now Will You Serve Me?, after my husband and I endured a traumatic experience with our neighbors. As we were going through that ordeal, I stated to my husband " God is not happy with us",-"We are not serving him wholeheartedly".
We developed a routine - making excuses not to attend church, while focusing on worldly issues and material things. As we waited on an answer to our prayers, we were directed by God immediately to a new church home. Praise God!!!
While at this church, I had the opportunity to read this poem to my former Pastor's wife and she was so moved by it, that she strongly suggested that I compile a book. Shortly after, my former Pastor allowed me to recite my inspirational poems to the congregation every Sunday. The congregation embraced me with tremendous support, encouragement and love.
I began to write a new poem every week based on life events and God's anointing. At times, I would be driving down the highway on my way home from work, and I would get a thought that was so overwhelming that I was compelled to pull over and grab a piece of paper and start writing. I thank God for this gift!
I pray as you read the reflections in this book, you will be uplifted and encouraged to seek God to establish a deeper, closer relationship with him. I know God is real and he gives us the choice to serve him or not! If you choose wisely, you will never regret it and will be richly blessed. To God Be the Glory!!! By: Brenda G. Williams Visit: http://www.nowwillyouserveme.com/
Buy Now: http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~47719.aspx |
Complexities of Connecting Formerly Incarcerated People to the Labor Market
¶ 7/22/2008 07:09:00 PM 0 comments
New Report Discusses the Complexities of Connecting Formerly Incarcerated People to the Labor Market. More than 1 in 100 American adults are now behind bars. Most will eventually return home, and a great many will find their way to One-Stops or community-based, faith-based and other organizations; yet relatively few of these organizations have experience with working with former prisoners. Going to Work with a Criminal Record was developed to help meet this need. The guide offers fundamental lessons on connecting people with criminal records to appropriate jobs and employers, as well as tools to organize these efforts. It outlines how to avoid mistakes and how to develop important relationships, including with employers, parole officers and the local child support enforcement agency. www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/ |
¶ 7/22/2008 07:09:00 PM 0 comments
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership
Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership
Nelson Mandela's birthday is July 18th. As I noticed the worldwide celebrations taking place, I was thinking about my autographed copy of his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. What really impressed me about his impact was his tremendous leadership qualities. I recently read an article that summarized these qualities, and I wanted to share them with you and get the perspective of our community. Below is an excerpt from the article. I also encourage you to read the entire article.
I cannot agree more with Richard Sengel's summary. . .
Ultimately, the key to understanding Mandela is those 27 years in prison. The man who walked onto Robben Island in 1964 was emotional, headstrong, easily stung. The man who emerged was balanced and disciplined. He is not and never has been introspective. I often asked him how the man who emerged from prison differed from the willful young man who had entered it. He hated this question. Finally, in exasperation one day, he said, "I came out mature."
There is nothing so rare — or so valuable — as a mature man. Happy birthday, Madiba.
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http://www.izania.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6939#post6939 Quote:
| Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership Wednesday, Jul. 09, 2008 By RICHARD STENGEL . . . I've always thought of what you are about to read as Madiba's Rules (Madiba, his clan name, is what everyone close to him calls him), and they are cobbled together from our conversations old and new and from observing him up close and from afar. They are mostly practical. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place. No. 1 Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it "I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world." But as a leader, you cannot let people know. "You must put up a front." . . . Prisoners who were with him said watching Mandela walk across the courtyard, upright and proud, was enough to keep them going for days. He knew that he was a model for others, and that gave him the strength to triumph over his own fear. No. 2 Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind When he initiated his negotiations with the government in 1985, there were many who thought he had lost it. "We thought he was selling out," says Cyril Ramaphosa, then the powerful and fiery leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. "I went to see him to tell him, What are you doing? It was an unbelievable initiative. He took a massive risk." . . . For Mandela, refusing to negotiate was about tactics, not principles. Throughout his life, he has always made that distinction. His unwavering principle — the overthrow of apartheid and the achievement of one man, one vote — was immutable, but almost anything that helped him get to that goal he regarded as a tactic. He is the most pragmatic of idealists. No. 3 Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front Mandela loved to reminisce about his boyhood and his lazy afternoons herding cattle. "You know," he would say, "you can only lead them from behind." He would then raise his eyebrows to make sure I got the analogy. . . . The trick of leadership is allowing yourself to be led too. "It is wise," he said, "to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea." No. 4 Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport As far back as the 1960s, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. His comrades in the ANC teased him about it, but he wanted to understand the Afrikaner's worldview; he knew that one day he would be fighting them or negotiating with them, and either way, his destiny was tied to theirs. . . . Everyone from ordinary jailers to P.W. Botha was impressed by Mandela's willingness to speak Afrikaans and his knowledge of Afrikaner history. He even brushed up on his knowledge of rugby, the Afrikaners' beloved sport, so he would be able to compare notes on teams and players. No. 5 Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer . . . Mandela believed that embracing his rivals was a way of controlling them: they were more dangerous on their own than within his circle of influence. He cherished loyalty, but he was never obsessed by it. After all, he used to say, "people act in their own interest." It was simply a fact of human nature, not a flaw or a defect. The flip side of being an optimist — and he is one — is trusting people too much. But Mandela recognized that the way to deal with those he didn't trust was to neutralize them with charm. No. 6 Appearances matter — and remember to smile When Mandela was a poor law student in Johannesburg wearing his one threadbare suit, he was taken to see Walter Sisulu. Sisulu was a real estate agent and a young leader of the ANC. Mandela saw a sophisticated and successful black man whom he could emulate. Sisulu saw the future. . . . When Mandela was running for the presidency in 1994, he knew that symbols mattered as much as substance. He was never a great public speaker, and people often tuned out what he was saying after the first few minutes. But it was the iconography that people understood. When he was on a platform, he would always do the toyi-toyi, the township dance that was an emblem of the struggle. But more important was that dazzling, beatific, all-inclusive smile. For white South Africans, the smile symbolized Mandela's lack of bitterness and suggested that he was sympathetic to them. To black voters, it said, I am the happy warrior, and we will triumph. The ubiquitous ANC election poster was simply his smiling face. "The smile," says Ramaphosa, "was the message." No. 7 Nothing is black or white When we began our series of interviews, I would often ask Mandela questions like this one: When you decided to suspend the armed struggle, was it because you realized you did not have the strength to overthrow the government or because you knew you could win over international opinion by choosing nonviolence? He would then give me a curious glance and say, "Why not both?" . . . As a statesman, Mandela was uncommonly loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and Fidel Castro. They had helped the ANC when the U.S. still branded Mandela as a terrorist. When I asked him about Gaddafi and Castro, he suggested that Americans tend to see things in black and white, and he would upbraid me for my lack of nuance. Every problem has many causes. While he was indisputably and clearly against apartheid, the causes of apartheid were complex. They were historical, sociological and psychological. Mandela's calculus was always, What is the end that I seek, and what is the most practical way to get there? No. 8 Quitting is leading too Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make. In many ways, Mandela's greatest legacy as President of South Africa is the way he chose to leave it. When he was elected in 1994, Mandela probably could have pressed to be President for life — and there were many who felt that in return for his years in prison, that was the least South Africa could do. . . . In the history of Africa, there have been only a handful of democratically elected leaders who willingly stood down from office. Mandela was determined to set a precedent for all who followed him — not only in South Africa but across the rest of the continent. He would be the anti-Mugabe, the man who gave birth to his country and refused to hold it hostage. "His job was to set the course," says Ramaphosa, "not to steer the ship." He knows that leaders lead as much by what they choose not to do as what they do. Clcik here to read the full article. |
Labels: Mandela
¶ 7/17/2008 12:41:00 AM 0 comments
