Book Report: Getting Things Done

One of the constant challenges that managers face is in balancing it all. How do we take time to be deliberate, creative, strategic, and visionary all while driving work forward. Ironically, when we get busier, some of these basic time-management tactics go out the window when we need them most. Getting Things Done provides some … Read More

Book Report: Drive

Instinctually, many of us may think that motivation at work is driven by money. Or maybe power. Or, in the case of some of us (ah hem) the mission of the organization for which we are working. Daniel Pink, a smarty-pants lawyer-turned-motivation-researcher has spent four decades researching the idea of motivation. The HOW of motivation: … Read More

Book Report: With Charity for All

Ken Stern, a former CEO of NPR, chronicles ways in which nonprofit organizations are financial nightmares…from overpaying CEOs, to failing to deliver on programmatic promises, and finagling suspect non-profit tax breaks. He posits that the non-profit machine keeps churning because donors do not do their homework. We donate to a charity when a friend is … Read More

Book Report: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, chronicles the care and treatment of a Hmong child with epilepsy who is living in the United States. At every turn, there are clashes of culture, understanding, language, norms, and even understanding of what “health” might mean. No one is right and everyone is … Read More

Book Report: Adventures of a Female Medical Detective by Mary Guinan

The Adventures of a Female Medical Detective, by Mary Guinan, is a wonderful story about smallpox eradication. It is a lovely complimentary read to House On Fire (which I also wrote a review about). Early in her career, Dr. Mary Guinan worked as a doctor and epidemiologist for the World Health Organization. Her work coincided … Read More