Jean Henri Dunant arrived in Solferino, Italy, on a business trip in 1859 and found himself in the middle of hell. About 38,000 soldiers lay dead and dying, casualties of a battle to push Austria out of Italy. That moment inspired him to launch the International Red Cross. Another big idea that came from his work: the Geneva Conventions. How did he make it happen?

Ever wonder who was the first woman to appear on the Wheaties cereal box?  It was Elinor Smith, the “Flying Flapper.” She made her first solo flight at age 15 and was one of the youngest Americans to earn a pilot’s license. By age 17, Smith was taking passengers on short hops and by age 18 she was running her own sightseeing business. Among the many risks she took was a wild dare from some boys in her high school that has never been repeated.

Even though it’s a cliché, it's still true that our greatest strengths can also be our greatest weaknesses. For Thomas Jefferson, his strength lay in trusting people. But when it came to financial matters—he trusted too much. To use the signature phrase of a much later president, Jefferson needed to “trust but verify.”

In 1914, Swedish priest Nathan Söderblom was third on a list of three candidates for archbishop of Uppsala: in effect, head of the Church of Sweden. Ahead of Söder­blom stood two distinguished bishops. Customarily, the king of Sweden chose the first name on the ballot. But in 1914, he chose Söderblom, the first time since 1670 that a bishop was not chosen.