Don Kasprzak

Latest Read: How to Be an Antiracist

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date March 14, 2021

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. Ibram is the Director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. He is among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. He has previously written STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism, and You in 2016.

Ibram asks readers to consider what an antiracist society could be in America today. This book certainly allows one to become a change agent. Yet the mountain to climb continues to be very high in America. Admittedly racism remains at the forefront of our society.

There are deep insights for many to learn from Ibram’s view that you either are racist or antiracist: there is no in-between. For the most part this is the key lesson of his book.

Ibram unquestionably illustrates, by hearing one state they are “non racist” actually means one still allows racist policies to continue. In addition Ibram points out, one’s ideology supports (knowingly or unknowingly) a continued racist policy or belief. That alone is a seemingly massive change for some readers. On the other hand, awareness is just as necessary for change to occur. Ibram certainly moves this learning forward to educate readers to the ingrained racism of our past and present.

The impact of Caste

Ibram clearly understands dynamic changes in society, along with our country’s history. However as a result of reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson I now understand racism differently.

Tags antiracist, Caste, Ibram Kendi, racism

Education Reading

Latest Read: Moneyball

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date March 8, 2021

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. Indeed statistics and the valuation of people is a great overview of this book. Lewis is a great storyteller and respected author. Unquestionably he delivers a great story about baseball.

They say “the book is always better than the movie.” This is so very true. If you found the movie’s portrayal of the medieval approach to drafting players, then Lewis book will take you down the rabbit hole of professional baseball.

Lewis addresses the career of Beane from high school. The odd story of Beane playing with Darryl Strawberry (also right out of high school) and Lenny Dykstra could go on forever.

Amazing the Mets saw Beane as the emerging star over Strawberry but did not support Beane’s slumps that all those scouts and coaches should have long scene coming.

Moneyball certainly offers readers a great in-depth view of how Billy hired Paul DePodesta to apply Sabermetrics allowing Beane to ‘count the cards at the blackjack table’ and make the small market team defeat Goliath.

Tags analytics, Billy Beane, michael lewis, moneyball, Oakland A's, Sabermetrics

Education Reading

Latest Read: Shoe Dog

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date March 1, 2021

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. This book is about Phil’s view of building Blue Ribbon into Nike. Knight ran track at Oregon and finished an MBA at Stanford in 1962. His goal was to start an athletic shoe store.

Shoe Dog feels like a PR firm wrote large sections including the events which reveal Knight’s shallow views of his early employees, testifying in court for hiring a spy working within a Japanese shoe factory, and his ‘buttface’ offsite meetings.

Knight reveals himself in these chapters, and is certainly not a leader. Many will be surprised, because this is set against the hero-worship of sports in America.

Certainly the early 1960s were a different time in Japan. Lingering colonial (post World War II) attitudes of business found Knight confused about commitments from Tiger. So roughly two-thirds of Shoe Dog is interesting.

Knight grew a company after struggling for years. Phil began by bringing Tiger shoes from Japan to Oregon and then down the West Coast. This is the essence of his story.

There are many insights to Phil’s travels across the world as a gift to begin his life’s work understanding the Japanese advantage of shoe manufacturing. The stories and struggling business practices in which Knight learned the ropes launching his shoe own shoe company Blue Ribbon.

Tags Nike, Phil Knight, Shoe Dog

Education Innovation Reading Technology

Latest Read: The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date February 22, 2021

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz. Even though leading a startup is the focus of this book, lessons are for leaders regardless of organization type. Ben is the cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley–based venture capital firm.

Ben certainly provides insightful stories with his experience joining Marc Andreessen at Netscape, then leading Loudcloud, and Opsware as CEO.

There are certainly rich experiences regarding Ben’s roles at Netscape, CEO at both Loudcloud and Opsware. Hence there are more than casual boasting of accomplishments. Nevertheless, Ben delivers insights to all the ups and downs experienced by struggling startups.

Ordinarily, many startups have only one client driving almost 90% of the company’s revenue. Therefore many lessons apply to all moving into any startup’s culture. Ben’s efforts at Loudcloud are driving those lessons and the single client model.

There is also a good section for managers relating to 1-on-1 management meetings with their direct reports. Otherwise, Mark Horseman’s Manager Tools series provides much deeper insights for managers and leaders to capitalize their 1-on-1 time.

Tags Ben Horowitz, change, leadership, startup, The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Education Reading

Latest Read: The Great Influenza

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date February 12, 2021

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry. Examining the 1918 Influenza, John addresses one of the worst pandemics in history. The 1918 pandemic surpasses COVID-19 in so many horrible ways.

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History is a 2004 nonfiction book by John M. Barry

As World War I raged across Europe, American soldiers unknowingly took influenza to the battlefields. Yet US military commanders well understood the risks before they ordered them abroad.

Barry’s work is a sobering reading. The 1918 flu killed 500 million people. John certainly begins strong for readers diving into the 1918 pandemic.

However, chapters three to thirteen review in great detail the history of medical education item United States, Germany, and France at the turn of the century. Do not lose interest. John’s lessons for COVID come into focus slowly.

Death itself could come so fast. Charles-Edward Winslow, a prominent epidemiologist and professor at Yale, noted, “We have had a number of cases where people were perfectly healthy and died within twelve hours.” The Journal of the American Medical Association carried reports of death within hours: “One robust person showed the first symptom at 4:00 P.M. and died by 10:00 A.M.”
Page 433

At the same time, Barry, history, and medical documentation can now identify the source. Yet, it would not be Madrid or Barcelona as the source. Epidemiological evidence confirms the influenza virus originated in Haskell County Kansas, where an army cook at Camp Funston took ill on March 4, 1918. The camp was built to train and deploy solider to France. The domino effect of sending soldiers to European battlefields would only accelerate a global spread that we fully understand today.

Tags 1918 pandemic, John M. Berry, Johns Hopkins, The Great Influenza