Just fyi — we are in the midst of transitioning over to our new site.  All of the past blog posts will be available, and your “old book marks” will theoretically work for a while.  But, after it is all completed, you might want to change your bookmarks. For a quick look, go to 15minutebusinessbooks.com.  All of… Read More A “this is on the way” heads up about our site – 15minutebusinessbooks.com

12 times a year, 24 books a year, the First Friday Book Synopsis is the place to learn the key content of very good, always useful, business shaping (and life shaping) business books. On Friday, I presented my synopsis of The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly, and my colleague presented his synopsis of CHAOS MONKEYS by… Read More Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini; Competing Against Luck by Clayton Christensen – Coming for the November 4 First Friday Book Synopsis

(Warning: we reserve the right to change these at any time…). Tomorrow, at the October 7 First Friday Book Synopsis: I loved the book I am presenting: The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly. Subtitled The Twelve Technological Forces That Will Shape our Future, Mr. Kelly, one of the founders of Wired Magazine, knows what he is talking… Read More Just to whet your appetite… book selections for upcoming months – (Clayton Christensen; Robert Cialdini; Tim Ferris; and other authors)

Is there anything harder than having a genuine conversation, whether one-to-one, or in a group? Years ago (my apology; I now forget which person I heard this from. Maybe Philip Yancey, but no guarantee about that), I heard a definition of a conversation. Here it is: Conversation: The first person speaks while the second person… Read More Don’t Take Your Turn; Wait for your Turn – On Listening and Empathy in a constantly interrupting era

The New York Times Business Books Best Sellers list for October, 2016 has now been published. At the #1 spot is The Upside of Inequality. This was a fast journey to the top spot; this book was just published in September, 2016. Some of the other books fall into the “personal productivity/live more fulfilling, productive lives” category.… Read More Here is the October, 2016 New York Times Business Books Best Sellers List – The Upside of Inequality is at the #1 spot

Without going into detail, my wife and I had a disappointing experience with a restaurant over the weekend. Not terrible – just disappointing. I got to thinking… It’s no secret that customer service needs to improve, in a lot of arenas. And especially in the face-to-face encounters in retail and restaurants, things especially need to… Read More Aiming for the “Five Nines” – How many mistakes/defects in your customer service? (Thinking the Six Sigma way for customer service)

Most month’s at the First Friday Book Synopsis in Dallas, Doug Caldwell video records our presentations. He then puts up edited versions of these videos – “teaser videos” – on a YouTube playlist. Click here to go to the playlist. You don’t get the full synopsis on these videos, but you’ll get a key story… Read More Check out the First Friday Book Synopsis “Teaser” Videos on our YouTube Playlist

I’m well into my reading of The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly. A couple of observations “so far”: Observation #1 – a lot of innovation is driven by the pursuit of “fun.” Especially gaming. The book describes the technological breakthroughs that were needed to take gaming to… Read More Gaming as Innovation Driver; Robots on the Rise – Insight from Kevin Kelly, The Inevitable

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

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