Academic Leadership

Today's heads of big companies are as recognizable to us as the most popular entertainers or sports stars, but the heart and soul of every organization are those leaders below the CEO. Today's celebrity CEO has become either a figurehead or an egomaniac, and often too public a personality to get the real work done. That work is done instead by teams of leaders - exceptional deputies who forge great partnerships to maximize both organizational and personal success.

This biography of educational activist and Black studies forerunner Bertha Maxwell-Roddey examines a life of remarkable achievements and leadership in the desegregated South. Sonya Ramsey modernizes the nineteenth-century term "race woman" to describe how Maxwell-Roddey and her peers turned hard-won civil rights and feminist milestones into tangible accomplishments in North Carolina and nationwide from the late 1960s to the 1990s.

It’s the business of saving lives. Miracle Medicines goes behind the scenes of the pharmaceutical industry and into the high-security laboratories to tell the stories of the men and women - chemists, physiologists, medical and clinical researchers, engineers - who have chosen to toil for years in the lab in order to transform scientific theories into new lifesaving medicines. You’ll witness the day-to-day labors, victories and defeats of the dedicated professionals who are waging a war against the diseases that still plague mankind.

We Took the Risk dives into the personal journeys of 25 executives who, through their own combination of traits, took on the challenges of an early US renewable energy industry. Far from being a self-improvement book or a glorified “who’s who” run down, this book provides a backdrop by which to juxtaposition your own career journey. Author Tom Weirich lets you view the beginnings of the industry as if you were there, lock in step with these entrepreneurial leaders, as they sift through decisions that would forever impact the trajectory of renewables in the US.

Frank Savage's is an unlikely success story. Raised in segregated Washington, DC, by his mother, a hairdresser and entrepreneur with little formal education, Savage's career has taken him around the world as a globetrotting financier. From his first banking job at Citibank to his current position as Chairman Emeritus of Howard University, The Savage Way shares the life and business lessons he learned along the way.

A Personal Brand Story follows Steve Guest on his journey from a successful, unassuming, and procedure-led recruitment consultant to a global business influencer. In this audiobook, Steve talks about nervously posting his first social media video, becoming a best-selling author in over 40 countries, and seeing his acclaimed The Guest List Podcast with Steve Guest listed in the world's top 80 business podcasts.

If many of your organizations have become more democratic, more resilient, more adaptable, and more transparent, it is because Warren Bennis has provided much of the intellectual and ethical fuel over the past half-century to our most influential and successful leadership experts and practitioners. Still Surprised illuminates how the world-changing ideas of Bennis and his colleagues resulted from the searing crucible of their own encounters, events and experiences.

Named the number one business book of 2016 by The Globe and Mail, Cort Dial's award-winning debut Heretics to Heroes: A Memoir on Modern Leadership proves that peak business performance is achieved by not by stifling humanity, but by embracing it.

In 1998, the thought of launching a startup in San Antonio was ludicrous. Just over two decades later, the scrappy little underdog that no one believed in is a billion-dollar business with more than 6,000 employees worldwide. The rocket-ship growth was exhilarating, but exposed Rackspace’s early flaws. The Rack We Built is Lorenzo’s recollections from those days, told only as he can tell it. With the principles in the book, you can create the type of culture that makes people want to volunteer their best.

An in-depth look at the life of Oakland, California native, Barclay Simpson, Strong Ties focuses on the set of convictions and leadership qualities that allowed Simpson to build a successful business from nothing and to become one of the major philanthropists in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Super Agent. Maverick. Reformer. Iconoclast. Dealmaker. Dentist? Jerry Argovitz has worn many hats in his remarkable life, both inside and outside of the world of sports. As a player agent representing and advising some of the biggest names in the game, Argovitz challenged the NFL both at the negotiating table and in the courtroom, earning a reputation as one of the most powerful men in professional sports.

Dr. Orison Swett Marden triumphed over his tragic childhood to become a man who was revered by millions and who became known worldwide as "The Father of the American Success Movement".

Turning Chaos into Gold is a groundbreaking guide that redefines what it means to lead as a woman in today’s fast-paced world. Blending practical strategies with inspirational insights, this book equips women with the tools they need to turn challenges into opportunities and lead with confidence, resilience, and purpose.

Warren Buffett's rule number one: always win! If it seems too good to be true, it probably is! Always look at how much money the other guy is making when he trying to sell you something! Descriptive essays I wrote at DeVry University-Houston.

As America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the 21st century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.

Self-identifying as 'evangelical' is risky business these days. What is Evangelicalism? Is it a historical artifact? A political philosophy? A set of doctrines? A litmus test for genuine faith? Perhaps more important, what will come to mind when future generations hear something described as 'evangelical'? Routes and Radishes invites you into a conversation about what the evangelical movement has been and what it is going to be.

In “The Trail to Success: A City Manager on Leadership, Management, and Civic Empowerment" Howard W. Brown Jr. shares his inspiring journey from a first generation college student to one of the youngest and few Black city managers in the nation. This memoir is not just a chronicle of Brown's rise, but also a candid account of the challenges he faced along the way. From a youthful marriage and subsequent divorce, raising two children, financial struggles, multiple relocations, to the relentless scrutiny of the media, Brown's journey was far from easy.

Dr. Catherine "Cathy" DeAngelis has shattered numerous glass ceilings in medicine for herself and generations of women she's mentored. Raised in 1940s hardscrabble Pennsylvania coal mining country, Cathy's unyielding determination and indomitable self-belief steamrolled medicine's entrenched sexism. In a life filled with "firsts," she was named the first woman editor-in-chief of JAMA - the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Richard A. Stone MD is the former Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Army. He returned to government service to lead the Veterans Health Administration at the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2018. Brought on as a proven changemaker and experienced leader in an inflection point for the agency. He had no idea his tenure would be defined by the public health challenge of our lifetime.

Leadership and motivational strategies from Pat Fortenberry, a small-town girl from humble beginnings who built one of the top direct-sales organizations in the country and made more than $16 million in the process. In More than Makeup, Pat teaches skills for managing, motivating, leading, and inspiring a sales organization as well as self-improvement tools that can help anyone become a stronger leader and a better sales person.