“What’s wrong with being confident?” goes the rhetoric of the recent Top 40 hit. The gut reply is “nothing,” which is of course true unless said confidence is actually baseless cockiness. Alyssa Dver plumbs the depths of this important – and culturally relevant – topic in her 2015 book, Kickass Confidence. Donald Trump wasn’t yet running for office when she…
Book Report – The End of Alchemy by Mervyn King
Alchemy, the medieval practice of attempting to convert base metals into gold in pursuit of a universal elixir, found new purpose during the Industrial Revolution as banks transformed secure short-term deposits into long-term risky investments. Author Mervyn King, the recent governor of the Bank of England, suggests this immensely seductive process led to “the creation of extraordinary financial powers that…
Book Report – Beach Reads!
Here are the best books I’ve read since the last time we took a break from the serious stuff: The Girls, Emma Cline – This is one disturbing debut novel from Cline, in which bored teen Evie becomes enamored of a gaggle of girls who seemingly do whatever they want. Set in the late 60’s and the present day, we…
Book Report – Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters
Radio Spot A Is your drive too hard for most people on your team? Do you find results to be inconsistent as a result? Perhaps you’re battling a dysfunctional culture that lacks openness and honesty? Do you have a reluctance to let go of certain roles and responsibilities? Are you quickly and easily bored? Is it fair to say…
Book Report – The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
“Good checklists are precise,” writes Atul Gawande in his terrific book, The Checklist Manifesto. “They are efficient, to the point, and easy to use even in the most difficult situations.” One hopes the summary below does justice to the best-selling author’s guidelines. Safety first. They say flying is safer than driving and for good reason. If drivers were required to…