New Books in Business, Management, and Marketing

Creating a Culture of Predictable Outcomes: How Leadership, Collaboration, and Decision-Making Drive Architecture and Construction (Routledge, 2020) demonstrates the importance of creating cultures in the design and construction industries grounded in sophisticated-caring leadership, high-performing collaborative teams, and master-level decision-making discipline, informed by values, to finally address massive inefficiencies, waste, and unpredictability.Barbara White Bryson offers specific guidance to industry stakeholders to succeed in achieving project-related predictable outcomes by focusing on culture rather than process. This includes selecting the right team members by hiring and firing bravely, valuing psychological safety, leading with values, practicing respect and transparency, fostering empowerment to make decisions at the right level at the right time, and more.This book is a must-read for design and construction professionals who want to finally understand how to set goals and meet those goals for their clients as well as for their teams.Bryan Toepfer, AIA, NCARB, CAPM is the Principal Architect for TOEPFER Architecture, PLLC, an Architecture firm specializing in Residential Architecture and Virtual Reality. He has authored two books, “Contractors CANNOT Build Your House,” and “Six Months Now, ARCHITECT for Life.” He is an Assistant Professor at Alfred State College and has served as the Director of Education for the AIA Rochester Board of Directors. Always eager to help anyone understand the world of Architecture, he can be reached by sending an email to btoepfer@toepferarchitecture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Under Bill Carroll’s leadership, Benedictine University, in Lisle Illinois became the fastest growing university in the U.S. from 2000-12. Carroll describes how Benedictine was able to expand from 1400 to over 10,000 students and become one of the most diverse universities in the US by “adding multiple legs to the table”, with each leg being a new type of student served through a new program. These innovative initiatives include: 5 j.v. campuses in China and 3 in Vietnam, branch US campuses in Mesa, AZ and Springfield, IL, online and senior learning programs, outreach to different ethnic and religious groups, and free educational offerings and partnerships for first responders and displaced workers. He also shares his insights on the future of higher education from his unique perspective leading Hunter Global Education, that is working to foster educational partnerships between US and Asian colleges and universities. David Finegold is the president of Chatham University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Marcus shares the story of his highly programmed upbringing in Brooklyn, New York, with significant sporting achievements somewhat hiding his challenges in conventional learning environment because he is and was a “learner by doing”. We hear how he was challenged by freedom of the world of university education: dropped out, dived into the world of hip hop and failed to make a go of this as a business. His onward journey demonstrates hard work, a series of steps forward and back, major moments of change as he moved from the world of blue collar waitering to being a junior developer, and developed self-awareness through years of therapy. We hear insights into why soccer could be the sport of the future, its important role in integration and civic pride, and his reasoning for forming a fund that only invested in health care startups in Nashville. His conclusion that you should explore that entrepreneurial itch if you have it so as not to die with regrets is one that will resonate with many.In his book Create and Orchestrate: The Path to Claiming Your Creative Power from an Unlikely Entrepreneur, as well as sharing the learnings from his entrepreneurial journey he sets out a framework of eight core concepts he argues that every entrepreneur needs when building their business. Four internal: Leadership, Finance, Operations, and Growth and four external, Product, Service, Sales and Marketing. They make sense for both a seasoned entrepreneur and are very useful for someone who hasn’t yet started out on their journey.About our guestMARCUS WHITNEY is CEO and founder of Health: Further, a strategic advisory firm working with leading healthcare organizations, as well as founding partner of Jumpstart Health Investors, the most active venture capital firm in America focused on innovative healthcare companies. Marcus is also a co-founder and minority owner of Nashville Soccer Club, Nashville’s Major League Soccer team. He is an in-demand speaker who hosts a podcast called Marcus Whitney’s Audio Universe and sends out a weekly newsletter called Two Worlds. Marcus has been listed in the Upstart 100 by Upstart Business Journal, Power 100 by Nashville Business Journal, and has been featured in Inc., Fast Company, and The Atlantic.The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal story of our carefully selected guests aiming for the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee.About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter LinkedinKimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here,About Richard Lucas Twitter LinkedinRichard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I recently sat down with Josep M. Coll to discuss his new book Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking: The Natural Path to Sustainable Transformation (Routledge, 2021). This book is the latest and final in a series published by Routledge that includes titles by some brilliant systems thinkers I have had the fortune to interview previously on this podcast (Managing Creativity, Córdoba-Pachón; Systems Thinking for Turbulent Times, Hodgson, Part 1 & Part 2; and The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking, Ison and Straw). Series editor Gerald Midgley refers to this collection as "an essential reference point for anyone looking for innovative ways to effect systemic change, or engaging with complex problems". And Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking is the icing on the cake!Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking explores a radical new conception of business and management. It is grounded on the reconnection of humans with nature as the new competitive advantage for living organizations and entrepreneurs that aspire to regenerate the economy and drive a positive impact on the planet, in the context of the Anthropocene. Organizations, today, struggle in finding a balance between maximizing profits and generating value for their stakeholders, the environment and the society at large. This happens in a paradigm shift characterized by unprecedented levels of exponential change and the emergence of disruptive technologies. Adaptability, thus, is becoming the new business imperative. How can, then, entrepreneurs and organizations constantly adapt and, at the same time, design the sustainable futures they'd like?This book explores the benefits of applying Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking to sustainable management. Grounded in Taoist and Zen Buddhist philosophies, it offers a modern scientific perspective fundamentally based on the concepts of bio-logical adaptability and lifefulness amidst complexity and constant change. The book introduces the new concept of the Gaia organization as a living organism that consciously helps perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet. It is subject to the natural laws of transformation and the principles of oneness, emptiness, impermanence, balance, self-regulation and harmonization. Readers will find applied Eastern systems theories such as the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements operationalized through practical methodologies and tools such as T-Qualia and the Zen Business model. They are aimed at guiding Gaia organizations and entrepreneurs in leading sustainable transformations and qualifying economic growth.Highly actionable, the book offers a vital toolkit for purpose-driven practitioners, management researchers, students, social entrepreneurs, systems evaluators and change-makers to reinvent, create and mindfully manage sustainable and agile organizations that drive systemic transformation.Kevin Lindsay is a 25+ year Silicon Valley software product strategist and marketer, and graduate student at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just about everyone knows correlation does not equal causation, and probably that a randomized controlled experiment is the best way to solve that problem, if you can do one. If you’ve been following the economics discipline you will have heard about the Nobel Prize given to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer for their work applying the experimental method to test real-world policy interventions out in the field. But what if you can’t do this? Are you just stuck with untestable claims? This year’s Nobel Prize to Josh Angrist, David Card, and Guido Imbens for methods of causal inference with observational data confirms that you don't have to give up. Scott Cunningham’s Causal Inference: The Mixtape (Yale UP, 2021) provides an accessible practical introduction to techniques developed by these luminaries and others. Along with the statistical theory, it provides intuitive explanations of these techniques, and examples of the computer code needed to run them. In our conversation we discuss why economists needed these techniques and how they work.Scott Cunningham is a professor of economics at Baylor University. He researches topics including mental healthcare, sex work, abortion and drug policy. He is active on Twitter, has a blog on Substack, and frequently conducts workshops on causal inference methods. A complete web version of his book is available here.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

Today I talked to April Rinne about her new book Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change (Berrett-Koehler, 2021)What’s your relationship to change? Do you embrace it, filled with hope for the future? Or are you somebody who’s more cautious, even worried about what change might portend? In this episode, April Rinne offers advice based on her 8 rules for navigating change more adroitly. Part of her advice has to do with slowing down, setting a sustainable pace to avoid burnout in ever more demanding careers. But there’s more. How may higher education change, including MBA programs, in a world where more of more of us will be part of the Gig Economy? And within companies, how can leaders create trust when inequality in pay between executives and rank-and-files members threaten even the possibility of a “we” identity? Listen in for Rinne’s unique perspective.April Rinne is one of the 50 leading female futurists in the world, a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and a Fulbright Scholar. She’s also traveled to over 100 countries as part of having a front-row seat to a world in flux.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 Politics. 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

Many Western entrepreneurs and businesses have foundered in trying to set up shop in China. Different expectations, different ways of doing business, different institutions and platforms—all come together to remove any pretensions that one can easily transplant a foreign business model into the Chinese market.One of these entrepreneurs was Xavier Naville, who moved to China in 1997 where he built Creative Food. Unlike many others, his venture was a success. It's now a key supplier to major restaurant chains across the country including McDonald's, KFC and Starbucks.The Lettuce Diaries: How A Frenchman Found Gold Growing Vegetables In China tells Xavier’s story growing Creative Foods: managing a Chinese team as a foreign manager, trying to work with farmers to improve how they conducted agriculture, and navigating investor demands. In this interview, Xavier and I talk about his time in China, what he learned about starting a business, and whether things are different in a more developed, more advanced economy.You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Lettuce Diaries. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia.Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Nothacker, the founder Sennder - a logistics startup from Berlin that is now valued more than a billion Euros. This podcast was recorded back in 2016, way before the idea that this might be worth more than a billion Euro. Learn about the four “Fs” of fund-raising, and how supportive Roland Berger were when David decided not to return their after business school.Sennder took an innovative approach on delivery business, allowing customers to get the package faster and cheaper than with current alternative, by using spare capacity on buses. This interview was recorded in 2016, way before the company achieved its stellar valuation. When we were recording the interview the valuation range was in range of three to five million Euros.See if you can spot the characteristics that led this company to become a European success story.This podcast was originally published as part of Project Kazimierz podcast recorded with Sam Cooke that was migrated onto the NBN in 2020. Some of the content reflects this fact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I talked to Nika Kabiri about her new book Money off the Table: Decision Science and the Secret to Smarter Investing (Houndstooth Press, 2020).Adam Smith not only helped to create the field of economics; the guy was also a moral philosopher who readily accepted the role of emotions in decision-making. How surprised he might have been to discover that it took decades upon decades for the field to come back to accepting the role that emotions and biases play in decision-making! My guest this week, Nika Kabiri, has no such blind spot. She knows that the Confirmation Bias is among the most important factors to weigh in helping her clients. Along the way, this conversation takes in the movie The Big Short and Jerome Powell and what may lay ahead for the economy. Five types of investors are also discussed, from the more-is-better investor to the what-has-always-worked investor. Like not to be poor? This episode is therefore worth a listen.Nika Kabiri teaches Decision Science at the University of Washington, and is the founder and owner of Kabiri Consulting LLC, where she uses Decision Science to help businesses grow.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 Politics. 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

In this episode we dig into Grzegorz Róg’s history and background, and how he established the largest Polish online education platform, and many other ventures. The biggest lesson to take from this podcast is important. Automation has explosive potential to transform organisations. The move towards No Code and APIs which connect “best of class” software applications creates tremendous opportunities for productivity enhancements in companies that embrace this way of doing things. It used to be said you should fear competitors who love what they do. Grzegorz’s version of this idea is that you should fear competitors who know how to automate. This podcast is a convincing explanation of why this is true.About our guestDeveloping smarter, tech-driven online education. Serial entrepreneur running multiple online ventures. A great proponent of automation and no-code movement using robots to help grow online businesses. Fortune 500 companies consultant, author of over a hundred courses, books and articles. Goal oriented and always learning. Some of his projects: eduweb.pl - skillshare for Poland, 200k+ customers, 500+ courses, recording them in-house learnux.io - my ui/ux trainings in EN, 3 years running on automations alone systemflow.co - framework for Webflow zautomatyzowani.pl - automation project (automatify.io) with programme + automation house easycart.pl - 1-click checkout based on Stripe niekoduj.pl - no-code and webflow programme codeless.how - infoproduct - badass video tutorials on automating your business EN easytools.pl - tools for creators (just starting, few tools in private beta) ahoy.so - polish tech communities (2000+ people), for now UI/UX and nocode/automation The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal story of our carefully selected guests aiming for the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee. About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter LinkedinKimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here,About Richard Lucas Twitter LinkedinRichard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices