by Adam Braun
Hennepin County Library hardcover 251 pages
genre: non-fiction philanthropy
Adam Braun left a promising career in NYC finance to create "Pencils of Promise" (PoP) - a for-purpose (instead of "non-profit") organization committed to building schools in parts of the world where education is badly needed.
Liked:
His success in the face of pessimists and his youthful insistence on achieving the "impossible."
His specific details as he relates his experiences
Disliked:
Lack of photos! I'll have to go online to look . . .
Seems like he glossed over some of the challenges. He addressed some in a very positive manner, but the cheery upbeat tone made me think that he is no "ordinary person" . . .
page 13 "When you come from a lineage of Holocaust survivors, you grow up with an understanding that everything was once taken away from your family."
page 17 - the film
Baraka . . . never heard of it. Curious to watch it. Life-changing for him.
page 25 - his experience on the SAS ship and the near-death fear. I love that he prayed and received peace, but his mish-mosh of Judaism, "higher power" New Age-ism, and willingness to explore any and every faith in the countries he visited were a bit disconcerting. This experience gave him a sense of purpose, which is powerful.
page 42 - love the Marcel Proust quotation: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." His changed perceptions remind me of friends who've worked in the mission field and then are horrified when they return to over-rich capitalist America.
page 44 - Scott Neeson, Steung Meanchey, and the Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF) - these were new to me and things I'd like to read about more.
page 113 - I cried at the part where he shared with his grandma (Ma, aka Eva Braun) that he'd dedicated the first school he built, to her. So sweet!
page 129 - the one photo in the book and "Go to the hidden URL www.AdamBraun.com/BookUnlock " to find photos, videos, etc. Grrr. When you go there, you have to enter your name and email to get access to this content. No thanks. I'll just use GoogleImages.
page 146 - the importance of recovery (from busy-ness) "This realization led me to institute a personal policy of going off email from Friday night until Sunday morning. I would use my weekends to rest, rejuvenate, and reconnect with those I cherished most. For one day a week, it's important to allow yourself to be a human being, rather than a human doing." I love this idea!
page 196 - conversation with a venture capitalist who changed attitude as soon as he heard what Adam was doing. This important conversation let to him changing his language about his work. "I knew that the only way to win the respect of our for-profit peers would be to wed our values and idealism to business acumen. Rather than thinking of ourselves as
nonprofit, we would begin to refer to our work as
for-purpose." I love this change in language which affects perceptions!
page 221 - This made me think of reading Stephen Covey's book! It also reminds me of the book I read about "eating the biggest frog first" - doing the one big important thing that you're tempted to procrastinate on, but really need to tackle first. I love reading cool books and making connections!
page 227 continues this theme - "We all know which tasks are the most important in any given day, yet we still choose to do them last. Choose to do those things first."
page 234 made me think of Malala Y. "The number of lives we impacted would not be determined by my efforts alone, or even PoP's efforts, but by the efforts of every person who decided that 57 million children without access to education wasn't just a concern, it was a crisis that urgently needed to be solved."
page 235 nice to hear him admit this . . . "What I have ultimately come to realize is that education is complex. You can't inject someone with education that way you can with a vaccine. You can't force it upon people. They have to reach out and work for it themselves. Such a fragmented issue requires a fragmented set of solutions." Yep.
page 249 "Purpose is found when you stop thinking about how you exist in the world and start trying to figure out why you are here. Once you solve that question, everything else falls into place." Wisdom from such a young man!
page 250 "Regardless of age or status, if you're not satisfied with the path you're on, it's time to rewrite your future. Your life should be a story you are excited to tell." I appreciate his comments on storytelling and humanity. Nice way to end the book!
