I loved ‘Water for Elephants’ (and have recommended it to many people.) I also greatly enjoyed Bel Canto. I found Middlesex a bit disturbing but an interesting read. In my ‘to read’ list are Stones form the River and Three DAy Road. :-)

Sadly, I have to agree with Jon here. All too often what is said in the proposal doesn’t stack up against reality. (That’s probably why it can be scary to consider, “What happens if we win based on this proposal?”)

I haven’t had the ‘we can’t allow you to have an iron in your room’ experience. In fact, my experience is the opposite, that being, I can’t remember the last time I was in a hotel room thaqt didn’t have an iron and an ironing board. (This is a good case of something becoming the standard and no longer something that is seen as real value or a differentiator – for me anyway, it’s now baseline and I expect it. Real value would be my being able to give someone my shirts upon arrival and having them magically appear in my closet shortly therafter (preferrably at no charge! I think I’ll dubmit that idea to the nice people at the Starwood Group! :-)

I think that Lincoln gives us some other valuable lessons that we can apply to proposals. I read ‘The Team of Rivals’ by Doris Kearns Goodwin published by Penguin last year. As well as being a fascinating read, the book also shows the importance of strong leadership, working with people to build effective teams and having the right strategies – which are key components of any successful team.
For example, Lincoln built his team based on what he believed would be the strongest collective, putting all personal differences aside. As you know the team of rivals was born and the rest, as they say, is history.