First Friday Book Synopsis

JUNE 9, 2016

Let’s face it. We will all always be in school. And that’s a good thing. Yesterday, Karl Krayer and I led an engaged group of learners at Resource One Credit Union in our Speech Class Refresher: (Speech Basics for professionals – for those who forgot everything they learned in speech class; or, for those who… Read More We Will Always be in School; and that’s a Good Thing – (Maybe you could benefit from our Speech Class Refresher).

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MAY 12, 2016

One of our Creative Communication Network speakers, Carmen Coreas, delivered her presentation on domestic violence and sexual abuse, entitled “It Ends With You,” on May 11 at the New Beginning Center in Garland, Texas.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MAY 12, 2016

Toffler’s “Third Wave” was the information age: an electronic global village, where people could access an endless array of services and information, participate in an interactive world, and build a community based not on geography but on common interests. He predicted the world as we know it today. The Third Wave is the era when… Read More The Third Wave Has Fully Arrived – Steve Case makes his case in his new book, The Third Wave.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MAY 11, 2016

Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner Crown Publishers (2015) How to blend computer-based forecasting and subjective judgment to gain a better sense of what will likely occur Obviously, computers can process, organize, and access more data faster than can human beings. However, at least for now, human beings can… Read More Superforecasting: A book review by Bob Morris.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MAY 11, 2016

What are you willing to pay to …further your career, make more money, make a greater difference? I’ve had a thought… I have invested a bunch of money purchasing my “tools,” and more money on getting better at what I do. In addition to the obvious – a university education at three different universities, many… Read More Getting Better Costs a Little – But Can Pay Off in Big and Important Ways.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

APRIL 13, 2016

Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., C.S.P., is an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and organizational consultant who transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices in ways that develop joyful and productive workplaces with a focus on the total customer experience. His insights encourage leaders and frontline workers to grow and invest passionately in all aspects of their… Read More Joseph A.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 13, 2016

If you already don’t like the history of the wealthy Kennedy family, this book will likely take you over the top. Kate Clifford Lawson published a book entitled Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), which exposes information that is not well known to casual followers of the clan. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), which exposes… Read More Rosemary is a Horrific Kennedy Tale.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 12, 2016

I am pictured below with Rory Vaden, whose two best-sellers I delivered at the First Friday Book Synopsis in Dallas. I met Vaden today at the monthly meeting of the National Speakers Association of North Texas, of which I was the chapter president in 2002. The books, Take the Stairs, and Procrastinate on Purpose, are… Read More Vaden’s Books Make Significant Contributions.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 12, 2016

I love musicals. In fact, for many years, I held season tickets to the Dallas Summer Musicals, as well as plays at the Dallas Majestic Theatre. After the children were born, I simply could not go with that kind of regularity. But, I go because they make me happy. As with many things, you never quite understand… Read More More Complicated Than They Look.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 12, 2016

In additional to the synopses I present on business books, I also read books on social justice, dealing with issues of race, poverty, education, immigration… And I present synopses of these books for the Urban Engagement Book Club in Dallas (sponsored by CitySquare). This Thursday, I am presenting my synopsis of Between the World and Me… Read More Not Just “The Other,” But Also “The Below” – Insight from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

When there is a legitimate “best book of the year” award, complete with a cash component, then the winning book is worth looking at. Well, this book won the Best Business Book of the Year award from McKinsey and The Financial Times. So I selected this book, presenting my synopsis of Rise of the Robots:… Read More But Where will the Demand Be? – My Lessons and Takeaways from Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JANUARY 10, 2016

I think I have come to understand this: there are two kinds of business books. #1 – Books to read once, and then do what you’ve learned from the book. In other words, it’s not that they make you think. Instead, these books say, “do this, and something in your work life, your personal life,… Read More We Need Doers; We Need Thinkers – Maybe This Helps Explain Why We Need Two Categories of Good Business Books.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JANUARY 9, 2016

Call this a little bit of Saturday musing… #1 — About Disruption I just read this, from Slate: The End of the Taxi Era – The bankruptcy of San Francisco’s largest cab company is just the beginning. Thanks to Uber, the entire industry is doomed. And I started thinking – has there been any company/industry… Read More A few Random Thoughts on a Saturday… about Disruption, Change, the Price of Oil….

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First Friday Book Synopsis

DECEMBER 11, 2015

Time for a new “Return on…” consideration. The traditional one, of course, is “ROI – Return on Investment.” And Jim Collins wrote about our “ROL – Return on Luck” in his book Great by Choice. From the book: Luck happens, a lot, both good luck and bad luck. Every company in our research experienced significant… Read More We know about “ROI,” and “ROL” …Maybe we need to focus on “ROM – Return on Mistakes” (Reflecting on Chipotle’s Latest Travails).

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First Friday Book Synopsis

DECEMBER 10, 2015

In 2015, I presented synopses of 13 business books at the First Friday Book Synopsis. (One a month, plus a second book in December while Karl Krayer was away at a conference). If you make me choose the best book, well… a tough choice. I will say this – there have been years when I… Read More 2015 Year in review – A Baker’s Dozen Business Books, with Lessons and Takeaways, from the 2015 First Friday Book Synopsis.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

I know next to nothing about Illeana Douglas. And I know less than that about the actual business of filmmaking. But I do know this. There are legends, people whose influence is just so deep and enduring. People like Martin Scorsese. Yesterday, I was listening to Fresh Air, the top of the top-notch interview program… Read More Illeana Douglas Teaches Us about Male Privilege and Sexism in the Film Industry – (and her observation is true for other places, for sure).

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First Friday Book Synopsis

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

I like to read, and present synopses of, books dealing with the future. Give me a choice, and I prefer optimism over pessimism. But, I simply like pondering the “what will tomorrow really be like?” question. I’ve always liked to read these books. I remember being intrigued and energized by Future Shock decades ago, and… Read More Conduct your Own Mini-Seminar on the Coming Future: The Second Machine Age; Exponential Organizations; and Bold (and, don’t forget Abundance).

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First Friday Book Synopsis

NOVEMBER 2, 2015

Paradigm Shift noun a time when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes completely —– and “one conceptual world view is replaced by another” from Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) ——————– When I teach persuasion to my speech classes, I always show the excellent video by Joel Barker,… Read More “When a Paradigm Shifts, Everyone Geos Back to Zero” – Joel Barker.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

This is from Geoff Colvin, Humans are Underrated: What High Achievers Know that Brilliant Machines Never Will. Call it the centrality of story — no, make that the centrality of “storytelling.” From the book: “We discovered that it wasn’t story that was having the impact but storytelling.” It’s authenticity. Who is telling the story?

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First Friday Book Synopsis

AUGUST 28, 2015

I have started asking some of the groups I speak to to respond to this (in table conversations): “Tell the person next to you the last book you read, cover-to-cover, that was not a novel, and what you gained from reading the book.” And then I watch. Sometimes, I speak to groups filled with book… Read More “What’s the Last Book, not a novel, you read, cover-to-cover?

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JULY 28, 2015

In the old days, I would go to movie theaters. Not so much anymore. Now, I mostly watch movies through some form of streaming or premium or on-demand access. So, I’m a little “late” on my movie comments. This past weekend, I watched The Equalizer. If you haven’t seen it, Denzel Washington plays a former […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JULY 28, 2015

There is so much good advice, good counsel, good advice out there in so many places. But, it is tough to beat a good book for the best “where do I go to learn about” counsel. You know the old wisdom — “readers are leaders.” Maybe it is better to say that leaders do plenty of reading. And so […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JULY 27, 2015

Being your own manager is only half the battle. In the old days, as you learned a trade (a skill), you would work under a journeyman (it was pretty much always a journeyMAN), until you became a journeyman yourself. (And then, if you made it to the pinnacle, you would become a master). Today, so […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JULY 27, 2015

Since our focus at the First Friday Book Synopsis is on business, we have covered very few books of interest to general society. However, a great friend of mine encouraged me to investigate domestic violence against women and sexual abuse. I have made several FB posts about this, and am preparing a formal persuasive presentation […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JUNE 25, 2015

There are plenty of books dealing with exemplar, successful, “great,” “excellent” companies. Some of those companies have already fallen from the list. For example, Jim Collins described Circuit City as one of the exemplar, “great” companies in his book Good to Great, not very long before Circuit City disappeared from our landscape. In other words, […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JUNE 24, 2015

There’s something about fundamentals that basketball players love. Phil Jackson — Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success You can’t skip fundamentals if you want to be the best. The minute you get away from fundamentals – whether it’s proper technique, work ethic, or mental preparation – the bottom can fall out… You have to monitor […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

JUNE 24, 2015

“There must be a better way.” That’s the motto Emmanuel Gobillot has adopted toward everything he does. As one of the world’s most popular speakers, consultants, and thought-leaders, he believes there is a better way to lead, relate to customers, and engage an organisation’s creativity, passion, and drive. The author of three bestselling books: The […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MAY 22, 2015

Philip Kotler is the S.C. Johnson & Son Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. He received his Master’s Degree at the University of Chicago and his PhD Degree at MIT, both in economics. He did post-doctoral work in mathematics at Harvard University and in behavioral science at […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

APRIL 1, 2015

'Jon Kolko is Vice President of Consumer Design at Blackboard; he joined Blackboard with the acquisition of MyEdu, a startup focused on helping students succeed in college and get jobs. Jon is also the Founder and Director of Austin Center for Design. His work focuses on bringing the power of design to social enterprises, with […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

APRIL 1, 2015

'There is no tougher customer service/experience challenge than that of health care professionals. Hospitals; doctors; entire medical support staff – every patient judges the entire operation on the worst customer experience moment/interaction in the entire experience. After all, (from the book): This may be our most obvious study finding, as well as one of the […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 31, 2015

'Reading Ron Lieber‘s best-seller entitled The opposite of spoiled: Raising kids who are grounded, generous, and smart about money (Harper Business, 2015) is quite an eye-opener. He is a personal finance columnist for the New York Times. When I present its synopsis on Friday morning at the Park City Club, I am sure many parents […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 30, 2015

'If you are a college basketball fan, this is your weekend. It is time for the Final Four. The road has ended with three # 1 seeds, and an improbable entry by Michigan State, a # 7 seed. One of the studio anchors you will see is Seth Davis. His most recent book was Wooden: […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 30, 2015

'How are the great things accomplished? Not from carrots and sticks. This quote from Elon Musk, from Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler, pretty much says it all: Passion and purpose scale—always have, always will. Every movement, every revolution, is proof of this fact. Plus, […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 29, 2015

'Mike Paton has spent a lifetime learning from and sharing with entrepreneurs. The product of an entrepreneurial household, he cut his teeth in banking before running (or helping run) four small, growing companies. For the last seven years, he’s been helping entrepreneurs clarify, simplify and achieve their vision by mastering the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 28, 2015

'A new book about gender has created controversy, but perhaps for all the wrong reasons. How would you like to know that women are the superior gender, and that we actually don’t need men at all? I don’t think that’s what Sheryl Sandberg had in mind when she wrote Lean In: Women, Work, and the […]. Karl''s blog entries Amazon.com Belknap Creative Communication Network Dr.

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 28, 2015

'The evidence is in. The infamous racist chant on the SAE party bus had been learned four years earlier at a national “Leadership” Conference (set on a Cruise — what could possibly go wrong?) for the fraternity. In other words, at a gathering convened to train and challenge young leaders, apparently in a session that […].

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First Friday Book Synopsis

MARCH 28, 2015

'The book I blogged about on March 21, Get What’s Yours, has soared to the top of the hardcover business best-seller list in the Wall Street Journal, published today (3/28-3/29, 2015, p. C10). It is # 1 on that list, and # 4 on the hardcover non-fiction list. Here is its rankings on the Amazon.com […]. Karl''s blog entries Amazon.

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