Bill Bradley Advocates Citizen Leadership In New Book

Inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s second State of the Union address, author Bill Bradley advocates citizen leadership in his new book, We Can All Do Better.

Lincoln said, “We can succeed only by concert.  It is not ‘Can any of us imagine better?’ but ‘Can we all do better?’”

So, that’s where Bradley starts his book.  He then goes on to share his highly personal review of the current state of the nation. 

We can All Do Better is a timely read as we near the November presidential election.

As an eighteen-year New Jersey Senator, financial and investment advisor, Olympic and NBA athlete, national radio host, and best-selling author, Bradley’s varied leader and teammate experiences create interesting perspectives, including ones on:

• Job creation 
• Education 
• Deficit reduction 

Key takeaways from the book for me include these about teams and what makes a team effective:

• At some point, it dawns on a member of a team that by helping his/her teammates, he/she helps himself/herself.  Unselfishness begets unselfishness; the result is a stronger whole. 
• Unselfishness boosts productivity.  Five people with different skills, working together as a team, will produce more creatively and efficiently than five people toiling alone in a hierarchy. 
• A team is a team only when all its members are players; and in a world defined by escalating change, they can only be players if they can contribute to change. 

Some of Bradley’s other books include New York Times best-sellers: Time Present, Time Past; The New American Story; and Values of the Game.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me an advance copy of We Can All Do Better.