Tag: Education

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Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: Change

Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times by John P. Kotter.

Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times by John P. Kotter

John holds a MS from the MIT and PhD in Business Administration (DBA) from Harvard. He has been a long tenured professor at HBS. He co-founded Kotter International, his leadership and strategy implementation firm. Leading Change published in 1996 was named one of the most influential business books of all time by Time Magazine.

While John introduced Leading Change in 1996, this book is moving the reader to accept our the world has moved from episodic change to a state of permanent, volatile flux. This falls into perfect alignment with modern IT’s Continuous Delivery.

The focus is on behavioral science, the barrier to organizational change is not bad management, but human nature. As a result, John presents two distinct “channels” for organizations. The Survive Channel: Triggered by threats is reactionary and negatively increasing anxiety. A Thrive Channel: Triggered by opportunities will drive curiosity, collaboration, and creativity. Yet John is outlining modern corporate KPIs and quarterly targets are shutting down innovations organizations need today in order to to stay relevant.

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Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: Red Team

Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy by Micah Zenko

Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy by Micah Zenko

Micah holds a BA in International Relations from University of Wisconsin-Madison, MA in Security Policy Studies at George Washington University, and PhD in Political Science from Brandeis University. He is the Director of Research and Learning at the McChrystal Group. He is also a Whitehead Senior Fellow at Chatham House and previously served as a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Micah previously served at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the US State Department’s Office of Policy Planning, the Brookings Institution, and the Congressional Research Service. He is published in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Business Insider.

Red Team is in fact, a very engaging read and should be almost mandatory for organizational leaders and their IT division. The key reason in fact is that Micah is providing the practice of inhabiting the perspective of potential competitors to gain a strategic advantage.

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Education Reading Technology

Latest Read: Defensive Security Handbook

Defensive Security Handbook (2nd Edition): Best Practices for Securing Infrastructure By Amanda Berlin, William F. Reyor III and Lee Brotherston.

Defensive Security Handbook 2nd Edition: Best Practices for Securing Infrastructure By William F. Reyor III and Lee Brotherston.

Amanda holds an Associate in Computer Information Systems from North Central State College. Today she is a Senior Product Manager of Cybersecurity at Blumira. She is co-host of Brakeing Down Security, provides training for organizations on creating tabletop and incident response playbook programs. In addition, Amanda is CEO and co-founder of Mental Health Hackers, a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness about mental health issues in the cybersecurity community.

William is the Director of Security at Modus Create. His previously served at The Walt Disney Company, Raytheon Technologies, and as CISO at Fairfield University. Reyor is also a co-founder of Security BSides Connecticut.

Lee holds a BSc in Media Technology from Teesside University, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire UK. He is the founding security engineer at OpsHelm and has previously worked across multiple sectors: including finance, telecommunications, hospitality, entertainment, and government.

The authors are recognized for extensive real-world experience and leadership in cybersecurity. This is a perfect update to a cyber world filled with ever increasing high-profile hacks, data leaks, and ransomware attacks. For organizations lacking a formal InfoSec program this provides a baseline and is most helpful for the Information Security community.

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Artificial Intelligence Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: The Innovator’s Solution

The Innovator’s Solution, with a New Foreword: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor.

The Innovator’s Solution, with a New Foreword: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor

Clayton holds a BS in economics from Brigham Young University. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and spent two years studying applied econometrics at Oxford University. He also holds a MBA and PhD in Business Administration from Harvard University. Michael holds an BA in Philosophy from Harvard, an MBA from Western University in London, Ontario Canada, and a DBA from Harvard.

Even in the age of AI’s disruption, as noted by Rudyard Kipling, “Funny how the new things are the old things.” Time and again, I frequently find lessons so well presented, they can easily be adapted to other fields or circumstances. At its core, AI is fundamentally about using technology to create new value as every organization is seeking new growth channels regardless of marketplace.

In our new AI-driven era, Rudyard Kipling’s words ring true: “Funny how the new things are the old things.” As I read books from various fields, I continually encounter well-crafted lessons that, while seemingly fresh, often serve as bridges connecting insights from one field or event to another.

Clayton Christensen’s simply amazing 1997 bestseller, The Innovator’s Dilemma, introduced readers to the groundbreaking idea of disruptive innovation. He demonstrated how even respected companies and organizations can do everything right and yet still lose market leadership.

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Education Reading

Latest Read: Reskilling America

Reskilling America: Learning to Labor in the Twenty-First Century By Katherine S. Newman and Hella Winston.

Reskilling America: Learning to Labor in the Twenty-First Century by Katherine S. Newman and Hella Winston

Katherine holds holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Sociology from the University of California, San Diego and a Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Today Katherine is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of California. She was formerly the Provost of UMass Amherst and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, professor at Princeton University and Harvard University, and professor of anthropology at Columbia University.

Hella was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, The Johns Hopkins University, and Princeton University. Today she is pursuing her Ph.D. in sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is a Senior Fellow at Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism.

The book begins with a certainly sobering assessment of the current state of American secondary education. They highlight misguided policies that have driven economic inequalities for decades.

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