New Books in Business, Management, and Marketing

The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks.Nobody needs telling there isn't enough time. We're obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we're deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and "life hacks" to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks.Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on "getting everything done," Four Thousand Weeks (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021) introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we've come to think about time aren't inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we've made as individuals and as a society--and that we could do things differently. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bypass the faulty processes and communication styles that make change impossible in so many other organizations; access these practical tools and ideas for increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in your company.Filled with actionable advice Alida Miranda-Wolff learned through her own struggles being an outsider in a work culture that did not value inclusion, and having since worked with over 60 organizations to prioritize DEI initiatives and all the value and richness it adds to the workplace, Cultures of Belonging: Building Inclusive Organizations That Last (HarperCollins, 2022) helps leaders: Learn why creating an environment where everyone feels belonging is the new barometer for employee engagement. Develop an understanding of the key terms around DEI and why they matter. Assess where your organization is today. Define and take the small steps that build new muscle memory into an organizational culture. Increase employee engagement, collaboration, innovation, communication, and sense of belonging. Build confidence in how to solve future DEI-related challenges. Get buy-in from colleagues (and even resisters) who can clearly see how to move forward and why. Overcome any limiting work environment and build all new processes and communication priorities that allow your employees to be a part of something greater than themselves while your organization learns to value and embrace the unique experiences and perspective that each employee brings to the company. Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I talked to Carl Rhodes about his book Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy (Policy Press, 2021).When Milton Friedman published Capitalism and Freedom in 1962, whose freedom was he referring to? When you know the answer is corporations, you can begin to understand both what neoliberalism was all about and why today Woke Capitalism may not be so much a harbinger of socialism as it is a way to distract the conversation from real economic reforms. That’s indeed the take of Carl Rhodes, whose book explores the plutocracy that America and otherwise democratic countries are at risk of becoming if they haven’t gotten there already. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address famously included the pledge that government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” shall not perish. Rhodes is warning, in effect, that the world of George Orwell’s Animal Farm in which some pigs are more equal than others may be now dangerously closer to the truth.Carl Rhodes is Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Technology Sydney. There he researches the ethical and democratic dimensions of business and work. Carl regularly writes for the mainstream and independent press alike on issues related to ethics, policy, and the economy.Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast was first published in 2015. Since then our guest has founded Growthx, Lightjump Capital and SVG Partners. Will Bunker talked to Richard Lucas and Sam Cook. Will was the founder of One-and-Only.com (currently owned by Match.com). He is a successful entrepreneur and investor. Richard and Will chat about their philosophies around investing. They discuss the importance of surrounding yourself with people that can bring you new ideas and ventures. Finally, Sam and Will look into analyzing data and its use in predicting startup success. Will Bunker LinkedIn GrowthX Borrow my doggy Innovation Nest Open Coffee Krakow About your host - Richard LucasRichard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here, watch is autobiographical TEDxTarnow talk here.Sam Cook was the co-host of the Project Kazimierz podcast from 2015-2017 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I talked to Shameen Prashantham about his book Gorillas Can Dance: Lessons from Microsoft and Other Corporations on Partnering with Startups (Wiley, 2021).In a nutshell, the distrust that must be overcome in business partnerships involving large companies and startups consists of Will they screw up? versus Will they screw us over? In other words, corporations harbor concerns about the competency and reliability of their startup partners. In turn, entrepreneurs worry that they will be taken advantage of, with their I.P. being co-opted or outright stolen. To establish trust rather than fear isn’t easy, as Dr. Prashantham acknowledges in this episode. A lot of stress can only be resolved by establishing how the partnership is a true win-win. At the same time, the person at the “bridge” on the corporation’s side must be at once an advocate, a diplomat and mentor, spanning boundaries within the corporation to bring multiple business units on-board to ensure the collaboration can succeed. All this and more gets covered in this episode, which concludes by exploring how the answer to what’s the “next China” may actually be China outside of its largest, showcase cities.Dr. Shameen Prasantham is Professor of International Business & Strategy and Associate Dean (MBA) at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, China. His academic specialty is business partnerships that contribute to sustainable development goals.Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. (https://www.sensorylogic.com). His new book is Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. To check out his related “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight” blog, visit https://emotionswizard.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we venture into the New Year, many of us are striving to reach new goals and maintain resolutions. It’s easy to default to focusing solely on succeeding or attaining those goals, striving to feel the “high” that accompanies that success. But this kind of approach can unwittingly interfere with healthy and sustainable success.Brad Stulberg, author of The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds--Not Crushes--Your Soul (Portfolio, 2021), has dedicated his career to understanding and fostering a healthier, more sustainable model of success. An expert in organizational behavior and public health, Brad suggests that constantly striving for and focusing on reaching the peak is neither a healthy nor sustainable way to actually reach it. In this episode of POTC, Brad and Yael discuss healthier methods of feeling the “highs” that accompany success. Listen in to this episode where we redefine “peak performance”, get in touch with your “lows”, and discover tips that work to remain grounded as you journey towards success in 2022 and beyond!Yael Schonbrun is a licensed clinical psychologist who wears a number of professional hats: she a small private practice specializing in evidence-based relationship therapy, she’s an assistant professor at Brown University, and she writes for nonacademic audiences about working parenthood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you logged into Facebook recently? Searched for something on Google? Chosen a movie on Netflix? If so, you've probably been an unwitting participant in a variety of experiments—also known as randomized controlled trials—designed to test the impact of different online experiences. Once an esoteric tool for academic research, the randomized controlled trial has gone mainstream. No tech company worth its salt (or its share price) would dare make major changes to its platform without first running experiments to understand how they would influence user behavior. In The Power of Experiments: Decision Making in a Data-Driven World (MIT Press, 2021), Michael Luca and Max Bazerman explain the importance of experiments for decision-making in a data-driven world.Luca and Bazerman describe the central role experiments play in the tech sector, drawing lessons and best practices from the experiences of such companies as StubHub, Alibaba, and Uber. Successful experiments can save companies money—eBay, for example, discovered how to cut $50 million from its yearly advertising budget—or bring to light something previously ignored, as when Airbnb was forced to confront rampant discrimination by its hosts. Moving beyond tech, Luca and Bazerman consider experimenting for the social good—different ways that governments are using experiments to influence or “nudge” behavior ranging from voter apathy to school absenteeism. Experiments, they argue, are part of any leader's toolkit.In this show, Peter Lorentzen interviews economist Michael Luca about this new book on how organizations—including Google, StubHub, Airbnb, and Facebook—learn from experiments in a data-driven world.Michael Luca, a professor of business administration at Harvard University, is an expert on the design of online platforms and the use of data to inform managerial and policy decision-making.Host Peter Lorentzen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of San Francisco, where he leads a new digital economy-focused Master's program in Applied Economics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast was first published in 2016.Kimon went from selling T-shirts door to door to running a global translation services company, and (after this podcast was recorded) handing over the leadership to Veronique Ozkaya. Meet Kimon Fountoukidis, former CEO/Founder of the Argos Multilingual and PMR. Kimon moved to Poland 30 years ago. He became a successful entrepreneur with an innovative approach to doing business. Learn his story, his insights on how to do sales, why job automation is not a bad thing, why Krakow is a great place to live and work and much more.In March 2021, Kimon became a co-host with Richard Lucas of the NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast. Kimon and Richard are shareholders in Argos. PMR Argos Multilingual Enlaso Acquisition Chillistore Acquisition Venga Acquisition Donnelley Panorama Firm John Deere Unicode About your host Richard LucasRichard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here, watch is autobiographical TEDxTarnow talk here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be (Princeton UP, 2021), Diane Coyle explores the enormous problems—but also opportunities—facing economics today if it is to respond effectively to these dizzying changes and help policymakers solve the world’s crises, from pandemic recovery and inequality to slow growth and the climate emergency. Mainstream economics, Coyle says, still assumes people are “cogs”—self-interested, calculating, independent agents interacting in defined contexts. But the digital economy is much more characterized by “monsters”—untethered, snowballing, and socially influenced unknowns. Coyle argues that economic policy is fundamentally normative, as any policy decision will imply political trade-offs. She argues for a more diverse methodological and conceptually inform analysis while reflecting on broader issues of today such as ethics and the challenges of the digital economy.This book has been recognized as the Financial Times Best Economics Book of the Year 2021 and a CapX Book of the Year, 2021. Bernardo Batiz-Lazo is currently straddling between Newcastle and Mexico City. You can find him on twitter on issues related to business history of banking, fintech, payments and other mussings. Not always in that order. @BatizLazo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Katzman is one of the U.S.’s most innovative thinkers and successful educational entrepreneurs. He founded Princeton Review right after graduating from Princeton, and grew it into a public company. He then created 2U, that grew to be the leading firm in the Online Program Management (OPM) space by partnering with many of the nation’s leading universities to build online degrees, and now serves as CEO of Noodle, which has taken over from 2U as the leading OPM. In this episode, Katzman shares his perspective on 3 key issues in higher education today: 1) strategies that small private and regional public institutions can use to thrive in the coming “birth dearth”; 2) ways to address college affordability and rethink pricing; and 3) a new non-profit start-up he is forming to disrupt the college admissions process.David Finegold is the president of Chatham University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices