New Books in Business, Management, and Marketing

Essentialism is a systematic discipline designed to support making life decisions that help you to make your highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter. In this episode, cross-posted from the podcast Psychologists Off The Clock, Dr. Yael Schonbrun interviews Greg McKeown , author of the best-selling book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. They discuss the importance of distinguishing the essential from the nonessential, how to identify what is most essential, and strategies to support the disciplined pursuit of what is essential to you.Greg McKeown is the author of the best-selling book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. He is also afrequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, a sought after keynote speaker, a repeating guest on the Steve (Harvey) show, and his work on Essentialism is regularly written about in media (see Resources). Greg is also founder/CEO of McKeown, Inc., a strategy design center.Dr. Yael Schonbrun is a clinical psychologist in private practice, an assistant professor at Brown University, and a co-host of the podcast Psychologists Off The Clock.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Silicon Valley is understood to be one of the most fast-paced regions on earth, where innovation and upheaval are part and parcel of daily life. Imagine the challenge, then, when it’s your job to document and analyze the complex, intersecting, ever-changing cultures that comprise this famous region. In 2002, Dr. Jan English-Lueck tackled that very task in her book Cultures@SiliconValley. Now, fifteen years later, she has released a new edition that traces the decade and a half since that book came out, documenting what has changed in Silicon Valley and what has remained the same. In this episode I speak with Dr. English-Lueck about the revised Cultures@SiliconValley: Second Edition (Stanford University Press, 2017) discussing the original project as well and why and how she went about updating this important work.Carrie Lane is a Professor of American Studies at California State University, Fullerton and author of A Company of One: Insecurity, Independence, and the New World of White-Collar Unemployment (Cornell University Press, 2011). Her research concerns the changing nature of work in the contemporary U.S. She is currently writing a book on the professional organizing industry. To suggest a recent title or to contact her, please send an email to clane@fullerton.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You mean accounting has a history? Yes, it does, and it should matter to you, because the accounting profession, and the audit function that it serves, affects all the companies in your 401(k) program. Remember WorldCom, remember Enron? Every time a large holding of yours writes off the goodwill from a failed acquisition--there are too many examples to recite here--you've just had an accounting moment. In The Big Four: The Curious Past and Perilous Future of the Global Accounting Monopoly (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018), Ian D. Gow and Stuart Kells describe the history of the auditing profession and how it has come to be concentrated in four global entities. They assess the current challenges the industry faces and where it could head to address those challenges. People in finance, business owners, and anyone with a 401(k) should find this book of interest.Daniel Peris is Senior Vice President at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh. Trained as a historian of modern Russia, he is the author most recently of Getting Back to Business: Why Modern Portfolio Theory Fails Investors. You can follow him on Twitter @Back2BizBook or at http://www.strategicdividendinvestor.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book, The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity (Simon & Schuster, 2018), futurist, technologist, and CEO of Gigaom, Byron Reese makes the case that technology has reshaped humanity just three times in history: 100,000 years ago, we harnessed fire, which led to language; 10,000 years ago, we developed agriculture, which led to cities and warfare; and 5,000 years ago, we invented the wheel and writing, which lead to the nation state. He tells us that we are now on the doorstep of a fourth change brought about by two technologies: AI and robotics. His book provides an essential background on how we got to this point, and how—rather than what—we should think about the topics we’ll soon all be facing, such as machine consciousness, automation, changes in employment, creative computers, radical life extension, artificial life, AI ethics, the future of warfare, superintelligence, and the implications of extreme prosperity.By asking questions like “Are you a machine?” and “Could a computer feel anything?”, Reese cultivates discussion at the cutting edge in robotics and AI, and provides a framework by which we can all understand, discuss, and act on the issues of the Fourth Age and how they’ll transform humanity.Byron Reese is the CEO and publisher of the industry-leading technology research company Gigaom, and the founder of several high-tech companies. He has spent the better part of his life exploring the interplay of technology with human history. Reese has patents, obtained and pending, in disciplines as varied as crowdsourcing, content creation, and psychographics. The websites he has launched, which cover the intersection of technology, business, science, and history, have together received over a billion visitors and he is author of the acclaimed book, Infinite Progress: How Technology and the Internet Will End Ignorance, Disease, Hunger, Poverty, and War. He joins me today to talk about his new book, The Fourth Age.Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of what use is history, particularly for economists and people in finance? If you’ve ever wondered about this, you should read Daniel Peris‘s book Getting Back to Business: Why Modern Portfolio Theory Fails Investors and How You Can Bring Common Sense to Your Portfolio (McGraw-Hill Education, 2018). Before he became a portfolio manager, Peris was a professional historian. He was trained as such, wrote books about such, and taught such. In Getting Back to Business, he brings his background in this regard to a little considered question: Why, historically speaking, do we invest money the way we do? The “we” here is your financial advisor and, if you invest your own money, you. And you use something called “Modern Portfolio Theory” or MPT. That theory—like any theory—has a history. It was created by particular people in a particular historical context for a specific historical purpose. It was a tool fit for that specific historical purpose. Peris masterfully traces how it was invented, disseminated, and eventually reached (pardon the expression) “market saturation” among financial advisors. It’s a fascinating story, really an intellectual-institutional history of modern investment thought.But Getting Back to Business more than an academic exercise because Peris is no longer an academic; he manages 20 billion dollars. And his historical exploration has led him to the conclusion that the tool we call “MPT” is no longer fit for purpose. It used to work, but times have changed (partly because of the widespread adoption of MPT itself) and it no longer does, at least in its standard form. Peris has some suggestions about how we might design a new tool, one better fit to modern conditions.This books is a rare beast: applied, relevant, meaningful, news-you-can-use history. Were that there were more books like it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Reader in Industrial Management in the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, Rob Dekkers is well positioned to survey the currents of the vibrant systems tradition in the United Kingdom. In his book, Applied Systems Theory, out in its second edition from Springer in 2017, Dekkers... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we learn from large system failures? In their new book Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It (Penguin Press, 2018), Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik explore system failures and what we can learn from them. The book takes readers through a diverse set of experiences and accidents that may not appear on the surface to be related, but that all have similar problems and potential solutions. From DC Metro Train accidents to Three Mile Island, Clearfield and Tilcsik provide background and analysis on each issue, stringing together recurring issues within systems failures. Highlighting the works of Sociologists and other researchers and journalists throughout the text, this book is engaging and connects real world examples to real, usable tips for preventing system failures.This book will be of interest to a wide audience, including sociologists, business leaders, and anyone interested in changing organizations for the better. This book would be accessible for an undergraduate class in sociology or business and would be an interesting addition to a graduate course where the studies highlighted in the book could be linked and discussed.Sarah E. Patterson is a postdoc at the University of Western Ontario. You can tweet her at @spattersearch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American healthcare is in crisis. It doesn’t have to be. Dr. Toby Cosgrove‘s The Cleveland Clinic Way: Lessons in Excellence from One of the World’s Leading Health Care Organizations (McGraw-Hill Education, 2014) is a blueprint for fixing what’s wrong with healthcare―and is a must-read for every leader seeking to transform his or her organization.There’s a revolution going on right now. On the frontiers of medicine, some doctors have developed an approach for treating people that is more effective, more humane, and more affordable. It’s an approach to healthcare that has captured the attention of the media and business elite–and the President of the United States.It’s all happening at Cleveland Clinic, one of the most innovative, forward-looking medical institutions in the nation.In this groundbreaking book, the man who leads this global organization, Cosgrove reveals how the Clinic works so well and argues persuasively for why it should be the model for the nation. He details how Cleveland Clinic focuses on the eight key trends that are shaping the future of medicine. Readers will learn:• Why group practices provide not only better–but cheaper–care• Why collaborative medicine is more effective• How big data can be harnessed to improve the quality of care and lower costs• How cooperative practices can be the wellspring of innovation• Why empathy is crucial to better patient outcomes• Why wellness of both mind and body depends on healthcare, not sickcare• How care is best provided in different settings for greater comfort and value• How tailor-made care treats a person instead of a diseaseAt its core is Cleveland Clinic’s emphasis on patient care and patient experience.A refreshingly positive and practical vision of healthcare, The Cleveland Clinic Way is essential reading for healthcare and business executives, medical professionals, industry analysts, and policymakers. It gives leaders lessons they can apply to their own organizations to achieve results and empowers average Americans to make more informed healthcare decisions.Jeremy Corr is the co-host of the hit Fixing Healthcare podcast along with industry thought leader Dr. Robert Pearl. A University of Iowa history alumnus, Jeremy is curious and passionate about all things healthcare, which means he’s always up for a good discussion! Reach him at jeremyccorr@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this highly engaging, thoroughly persuasive book, Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright presents a unique prescription for fixing America’s health care woes, based on her thirty years of experience as a physician and industry leader. The problem, Fischer-Wright asserts, is that we have lost our focus on strengthening the one thing that has always been at the heart of effective health care: namely, strong relationships between patients and physicians, informed by smart science and enabled by good business, that create the trust necessary to achieve the outcomes we all want. Drawing from personal stories and examples from popular culture, supported by scientific studies and rock-solid logic, Back to Balance: The Art, Science, and Business of Medicine (Disruption Books, 2017) shows how the business and science of medicine are combining to strangle the creative, compassionate, human side of medicine—what Dr. Fischer-Wright calls the “art of medicine.” She then details the three questions necessary to guide us toward true solutions and the five paradigm shifts crucial to bring the art, science, and business of medicine back to balance. . . before it’s too late. Irreverent and funny, steeped in storytelling but allergic to policy-speak, this is a wholly new brand of health care book—one that makes common sense transformational and that will appeal to anyone who has experienced the tribulations and indignities of American health care.Jeremy Corr is the co-host of the hit Fixing Healthcare podcast along with industry thought leader Dr. Robert Pearl. A University of Iowa history alumnus, Jeremy is curious and passionate about all things healthcare, which means he’s always up for a good discussion! Reach him at jeremyccorr@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In From Head Shops to Whole Foods: The Rise and Fall of Activist Entrepreneurs (Columbia University Press, 2017), historian Joshua Clark Davis offers an unconventional history of the 1960s and 1970s by uncovering the work of activist entrepreneurs. These activists offered alternatives to conventional profit-driven corporate business models by opening up their own small businesses. It’s a fascinating account that challenges the mistaken idea that activism and political dissent are inherently antithetical to participation in the marketplace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices