Special Feature: Churchill
Inspiration for Our Troubled Times
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Several people have recommended the new book: The Splendid and the Vile, among them the president of my college and a number of radio commentators. Geoffrey James, a contributing editor for Inc.com writes:
When my editor asked me for a list of books that entrepreneurs should read during a pandemic, I admit I was at a bit of a loss. You see, it's not enough for a book to provide food for thought in difficult times; you also want a book that provides some escape from the day-to-day coping with those difficult times. Unfortunately, most business books--even business "thrillers" like Bad Blood--seem hopeless irrelvant. And a book about how great CEOs dealt with, say, "disruptive innovation," well..., those books were--let's be honest here--always a bit of snooze even back when they meant something. Fortunately, there is one recently-published book that truly rises to the occasion: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson -- an entirely gripping, deeply-human, description of the private lives of Winston Churchill and his family during the first year of of World War II, also known as the Blitzkreig. The Splendid and the Vile retells, from a personal perspective, the inspiring true story of how Churchill led Great Britain in the face of a truly existential threat. It provides a perspective on today, too, because World War II actually did result in the equivalent of 183 million people today, which is roughly the highest estimate of potential worldwide deaths from the coronavirus. The Splendid and the Vile is more than that, though. By describing how Churchill handled the challenge of putting Britain on a war-time footing, Larson reveals four of Churchill's techniques for managing an organization in the midst of a crisis when everyone is justifiably frightened for their lives. (read more)
