First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

If students are not learning, education is not happening. The root task is to create the conditions in which the relationship between students and teachers can flourish. Sir Ken Robinson, Creative Schools ——————— It is no secret – we are all worried about the quality of education. I suspect that we expect the practically impossible.… Read More Creative Schools by Sir Ken Robinson – My Six Lessons and Takeaways.

Creativity 101

Creativity Education Quality Blog 101

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

I’ve got some accomplished brothers. Among them, one is a retired research scientist and research facility director; one is a retired Air Force Colonel, now training pilots for a major airline; and one just sold his company after a remarkable run, building it from scratch into one of the premiere companies in its industry in… Read More Be Prepared – Thoughts on the Presidential Debate, with insight from Chris Anderson’s TED Talks.

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Airlines Industry Training Company 94

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

In this era of “becoming,” everyone becomes a newbie. Worse, we will be newbies forever. That should keep us humble. That bears repeating. All of us—every one of us—will be endless newbies in the future simply trying to keep up. Endless Newbie is the new default for everyone, no matter your age or experience. Now… Read More In a World of Perpetual Newbies, we all must join the Perpetual Learners Group – (insight from Kevin Kelly’s The Inevitable, & thoughts on learning orga

Learning Organization 97

Learning Organization Organization Blog 97

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

At our November 4 First Friday Book Synopsis, I will present the blockbuster best-seller entitled Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini (Simon & Schuster, 2016). This book has been on the Wall Street Journal business-best selling list for two consecutive weeks. It debuted on the list at # 2 on September 17-18,… Read More Pre-Suasion is November 4 Book Synopsis Selection.

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Cialdini Books Simon Influence 89

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

A smashing business-best seller on feminism has crashed the Wall Street Journal, debuting on its list at # 3 in the September 24-25 edition (p. C10). Jessica Bennett’s work, Feminist Fight Club: An Office Survival Manual for a Sexist Workplace (Harper), was distributed on September 13, 2016. At this writing, it is # 1 in three business books… Read More Bennett’s Feminist Fight Book Debuts on Best-Seller List at # 3.

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Books Blog 88

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

There are homeless people in our midst, all across our land. People without a home of their own. And, among these homeless people, there are some who are “chronically homeless – in other words, they will be homeless if the “rest of us” do not do something to help them. And the best help… Read More My lessons and takeaways from Housing First: Ending Homelessness, Transforming Systems, and Changing Lives.

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System Blog 109

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

This post prompted by this: I recently revisited Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport, one of the most important books I’ve read in recent times. There is long-accepted wisdom that we do too much “urgent’ and too little “important” work. Here’s a way to think about this with… Read More The Ongoing Rise of Shallow Work – Insight from Deep Work by Cal Newport, Deep Work.

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Books Succession Blog 89

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

Everything needs to get better. Everything. After nearly two decades of presenting synopses of business books, and books on social justice including books on poverty, education, and homelessness, I’m ready to state the obvious: Everything needs to get better – and, it can get better Everything needs to be done in a better way –… Read More Everything needs to get better.

Education 101

Education Books Blog 101

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

In 1981, Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson published The One Minute Manager. It is one of the best-selling and most translated business books of all time. Since then, Blanchard has published many variations on the subject. All of these begin with a fable, followed by specific applications, concepts, and teaching points that are relevant to… Read More The New One Minute Manager Cracks the List.

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Blanchard Management Books Blog 86

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

Benches were redesigned with armrests or uneven surfaces to prevent reclining; low border walls had fencing or planters along their surfaces to prevent sitting. Use of security fencing, razor wire, and “no trespassing” signs went up as did security cameras and guard services. A social media storm erupted in June 2014 when a luxury apartment… Read More For the homeless, cities are discovering Housing First – It is humane; it is smart; and it works.

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Media Blog 96

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

I recently heard a comment from a British politician on the current state of the world. His comment was simple – the world is too complex for simple answers. (Paraphrased from memory: Sorry; do not have the link, and did not catch the name of the politician). I was intrigued by his thought. I think… Read More Complex – Simple – Complex – Making the complex simple, easy to understand and use, is quite a challenge, isn’t it?

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Blog 99

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

Jim Dewald is the dean of the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary and an associate professor in the strategy and entrepreneurship. A business leader who can provide an effective bridge between strategy theory and on-the-ground practice, his research interests are related to the micro-foundations of strategy formulation and implementation.

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Strategy CPA Gordon Welch 85

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

One of Creative Communication Network‘s most renowned and beloved clients passed away on August 21, 2016. Ray Gilmer was a client of CCN President Karl Krayer, and they worked together on influencing presenations to sell his patented product to enhance sleep, entitled CES (Cranial Electrical Stimulator). You can read the obituary which details his outstanding… Read More Beloved CCN Client Passes Away.

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Creativity Influence Productivity Products 77

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

If you’ve never watched Ken Robinson’s TED Talk, Do Schools Kill Creativity?, then you are behind the times. It is the most viewed TED Talk ever. (Click here to watch it). Although, from his book Creative Schools: “I know that’s not as many views as Miley Cyrus gets. But I don’t twerk.” His book is… Read More How to Bring about Change, and other thoughts – insights from Sir Ken Robinson’s Creative Schools.

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Creativity How To Books Blog 104

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

On Friday, September 30, the New Beginning Center hosts a candlelight vigil to honor the victims and survivors of intimate partner and family violence. The New Beginning Center is a non-profit organization in Garland, Texas, dedicated to where life without Domestic Violence begins. The multi-faceted program begins at 6:00 p.m. at Lakeside Market Plano, located at 5801 Preston… Read More CCN Involved with Domestic Violence Candlelight Vigil on September 30.

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Marketing Organization Creativity Books 73

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

The most accurate way to predict reaction to a debate is to watch it with the sound turned off. James Fallows, When Donald Meets Hillary: Who will win the debates? Trump’s approach was an important part of his strength in the primaries. But will it work when he faces Clinton onstage? For example, Nalini Ambady,… Read More To Speak Well, it’s all about…everything – voice, words, movements, gestures, facial expressions.

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Examples Blog 98

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

Once the idea of willful blindness lodged in my mind, I started to see it everywhere. Margaret Heffernan, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril In a statement following the settlement, Wells Fargo said, “Wells Fargo reached these agreements consistent with our commitment to customers and in the interest of putting this… Read More Willful blindness: We are all starting to see it seemingly everywhere – Refecting on Wells Fargo’s ethical “lapse”.

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Ethics Commitment Blog 103

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

Dan Pontefract is Chief Envisioner at TELUS, a Canadian telecommunications company, where he heads the Transformation Office, a future-of-work consulting group that helps organizations enhance their corporate cultures and collaboration practices. Previously as Head of Learning & Collaboration at TELUS, Dan introduced a new leadership framework–called the TELUS Leadership Philosophy–that dramatically helped to increase the… Read More Dan Pontefract on “The Purpose Effect”: Part 2 of an

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Telecommunications Consultative Organization Company 70

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

Please save the date and register for The State of Affairs in Domestic Violence conference on October 21. This conference is sponsored by Creative Communication Network, New Beginning Center, and Hope’s Door. The flier below has all the details, including date, time, location, speakers, and topics. You can register through the link below, or… Read More Register Now for CCN-Sponsored Domestic Violence Conference.

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Conference Creativity Blog 81

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

Many years ago, I spent some time, in conversation, and in speaking arenas, with a historian. He once told me this: “Randy, I live in the last century. And you live in the next century.” I have always been enamored with what’s next. I’ve read books on future trends from my earliest days of my work… Read More Kind of a Rant about Feeling No Longer Young and thus Out of Touch – and Thinking about focused Book Reading.

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Books Trends Blog 76

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking Chris Anderson Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 2016) How to take “something you really care about and rebuild it inside the minds” of those with whom you share it I cannot think of another person who has made more or better contributions to knowledge leadership in recent… Read More TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking: A book review by Bob Morris.

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Review Books How To Leadership 76

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

Just under eight years ago, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success was first published. Yet, here it is, yet again, at the number one spot in the September, 2016 New York Times Business Books Best Sellers list. It says a lot about this book, and this author, that it is back at the #1… Read More Here’s the New York Times September, 2016 Business Books Best Sellers List – Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is back at the #1 Spot.

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Books Succession Blog 81

First Friday Book Synopsis

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Almost every human born at almost every place and moment in history has had their potential capped by a single fact over which they had almost no control, namely, the quality of the teachers and mentors they had access to. But now, for the first time in history, it’s possible for anyone on the planet… Read More Every Speaker in Now Compared to the best TED Talks – My lessons and Takeaways from TED Talks by Chris Anderson.

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Mentor Quality Blog 85