It was the end of August and I had just finished the book I chose for that month – interestingly, it was my one and only fiction pick for the year and my least favorite read. I knew I had a book I was looking forward to being released in 2 weeks, so I needed to find something to tide me over. I went to my closet and pulled out a peculiar book – I had no idea how this book ended up in my closet. But the cover looked interesting – seemed to be a temple or mosque (perhaps both) somewhere in the middle east.
Then I looked at the number of pages and my eyes popped wide: 1080 pages???!!! I’ve read some deep books, but was I ready for this? I had never read a Michener book, and so I paused and thought, ‘Should I do it? Okay, let’s see how it starts out and if I don’t like it I’ll move on.’
150 pages in, initially a slow start, but I knew I couldn’t stop. I was in and I was up for the challenge of a 1080-page book with tiny little words filling the pages...
Well, last Friday, 2.5 months later, I FINALLY finished The Source, by James Michener. Timely. Fascinating historical fiction. And I learned so much. It was a great pairing with the book I read around this time last year, Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari, his Nexus being the book I am reading now.
The Source goes back in time about 70,000 years in the spot of a large Tell (a hill) called Makor, in northern Israel. The stage is set with an archeological dig at this Tell, and then takes us into and through the many civilizations that were born underneath this dirt and rock, ultimately painting a picture of the history of Judaism through so many millennia. We are taken into the ancient city through the arrival and persecution of early Hebrews, the rise of Christianity, the days of Muhammed in the 600s AC, the Crusades, and all the way to the events in 1948 that resulted in the founding of Israel as we know it today.
There is so much history to contemplate in this book, and it helped me put more puzzle pieces of time together, adding to my spectrum knowledge.
Most of all I found it incredibly interesting to walk away with 2 big and important leadership considerations:
What we know from our own experiences is really only a small blip in the chart of time, and it serves us to make the time to learn in grander context (at work and in life’s biggest questions) so that we can apply lessons from history to modern-day challenges.
Having taken the time to read this book, I have opened a door to question some of my own opinions. In the question, we expand (that too, is the role of a coach). And it’s not to say that I have formed a new opinion, but rather to say that I am open to listening to new possibilities, interpretations, and potential resolutions for profound questions.
How can you apply these 2 considerations to your current challenges and opportunities in and outside of work?
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