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James Rhee with red helicopter - a parable for our times
Learn the simple and positive way to embrace your agency, lead change, and fly free—in the business of life and the life of business with acclaimed CEO, TED Speaker, and Entrepreneurship Professor James Rhee as he shares the inspirational true story of finding success through kindness (plus a little math).
In kindergarten, Rhee received a toy red helicopter in gratitude for a simple act of kindness—sharing his lunch. The toy was lost to time, but decades later as an unlikely, first-time CEO, the lesson from that memory helped him salvage and transform Ashley Stewart, a company on the edge of liquidation.
During those years, Rhee experienced great loss—the death of his parents—and great joy as his team at Ashley Stewart, an iconic company predominantly employing and serving Black women, became some of his dearest friends. In the process, he composed a simple, but powerful operational and financial model for life and leadership that inspired leaders around the world.
In, red helicopter, Rhee shares a story of personal and professional success and presents a comforting, yet bold solution to the dissatisfaction and worry we all feel in a chaotic and sometimes terrifying world.
James Rhee, will be in conversation with Cliff Hakim, author of the book and pioneer of the concept by the same name We Are All Self-Employed (Berrett-Koehler, 2003, 2nd edition). Cliff has guided executives, managers, specialists, and entrepreneurs using this concept through transition: to know themselves better, to explore their options, and to honor their passion by reaching for new meaningful goals.
James Rhee is an acclaimed impact investor, founder, CEO, goodwill strategist, thought leader, and educator, who empowers people, brands, and organizations by marrying capital with purpose. He bridges the emotional with the mathematical, and gives permission for us to be human.Partner:Belmont Books -
Heather Cox Richardson with Democracy Awakening
From historian and author of the popular daily newsletter LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN, a vital narrative that explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy -- and how we can turn back.
In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. The essays soon turned into a newsletter and, spread by word of mouth, its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated readers who rely on its plainspoken and informed take on the present and past in America.
In Democracy Awakening, Richardson crafts a compelling and original narrative, explaining how, over the decades, a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals. By weaponizing language and promoting false history they have led us into authoritarianism -- creating a disaffected population and then promising to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. She argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation’s true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld. Their dedication to the principles on which this nation was founded has enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to democracy in the past. Richardson sees this history as a roadmap for the nation’s future.
Please notice that the in-person registration is sold out but you can register to take part to the event through zoom.Partner:Belmont Books -
Ilyon Woo with 'Master Slave Husband Wife'
> “A masterpiece! I have not read anything as moving, imaginative and informative about my great-great-grandparents since I first heard our family story from my mother when I was a child in the 1940's. When I finished the book, I felt uplifted and quite emotional, as if I had indeed shared not only their life-long freedom journey but had also borne personal witness to the tumultuous period in history through which they had not only lived, but had survived.” – Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely, poet, activist, Freedom Rider, and great-great-granddaughter of Ellen and William Craft Embark on one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history, the journey to freedom of Ellen and William Craft, told by author Ilyon Woo in her latest book, Master Slave Husband Wife, at Belmont Books on Wednesday, May 17 at 7 pm. 2023 is the 175th anniversary of the Crafts’ escape from slavery in Georgia in December 1848: one month later, they would arrive in Boston. Sustained by their love as husband and wife, the Crafts posed as master and slave, with Ellen Craft—the daughter of her first enslaver—passing as wealthy, disabled white man traveling with his enslaved valet. Long past the 1,000 miles they originally traveled to the North, the Crafts were required to flee several thousands miles more to England, in order to truly be free. Ilyon Woo brings the Crafts to life in her vivid narration of their adventures, with meticulous research and stunningly gorgeous writing. Basing her story upon the Crafts’ published narrative of their escape from Georgia, she turned to other sources—letters, deeds, travelogues, newspapers, diaries, paintings, and more—to tell parts of the story the Crafts never wrote about, including their crisis in Boston and their celebrity as abolitionist speakers, both in America and abroad. Ilyon Woo is the author of The Great Divorce : A Nineteenth-Century Mother’s Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers and Her Times. Her articles have appeared in publications such as The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal, and she has received support for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Ilyon Woo is in conversation with Christian Walkes, Associate Director of Education and Interpretation Museum of African American History — Boston | Nantucket to know more about this outstanding journey. This talk is presented by Belmont Books, The Museum of African American History and GBH Forum Network.Partner:Belmont Books
