BOOK REVIEW: Ram Charan’s Excellent Guide to Managing During an Insidious Inflationary Period

BOOK REVIEW: Ram Charan’s Excellent Guide to Managing During an Insidious Inflationary Period

A proven guide on how to survive and lead during inflation —  Inflation that we have not seen in 40 years is here to stay, with no foreseeable reduction in sight. It is not transitory. Best-selling author Ram Charan, whom I have known for 40 years, experienced the insidious inflation of the 1970s. So have…

Restoring American Manufacturing

Restoring American Manufacturing

Manufacturing in the U.S. has become challenging in recent years, but not for all the reasons you might expect if you’re not intimately involved in manufacturing.  The various factors affecting American manufacturing intertwine, but one stand-out component is a surprising lack of trained, skilled workers.  The money potential is there. The need is there.  But…

BOOK REVIEW: The Confessions of the Great Saint Patrick of Ireland – HIS OWN WRITINGS!

BOOK REVIEW: The Confessions of the Great Saint Patrick of Ireland – HIS OWN WRITINGS!

I visited Westport Ireland three years ago in search of my grandmother’s (Cahill) birth certificate. It is a beautiful place on the West Coast of Ireland, north of Galway. It lies at the foot of Croagh Patrick which is named in honor of Saint Patrick, the apostle and patron of Ireland and the Irish race.…

Pope Francis releases new apostolic letter on St. Francis de Sales, lawyer, doctor of the church

Pope Francis releases new apostolic letter on St. Francis de Sales, lawyer, doctor of the church

As a college student, someone led me to Introduction to the Devout Life, penned by St. Francis de Sales. It quickly became my anchor throughout my life, but especially as a young adult. Why? Because St. Francis de Sales is a master of the spiritual life. His writing style is direct, simple and clear. More…

Intelligent E.T. Life Apart from Earth: What a Famous Scientist Concluded

Intelligent E.T. Life Apart from Earth: What a Famous Scientist Concluded

Over the past few years there has been consistent and growing talk in the media (and elsewhere) about the probability of there being intelligent life forms elsewhere in the universe. Much of this is due to grainy video footage and some Congressional hearings on the topic of UFO’s (but they don’t call them UFO’s any…

How and How Not to be HAPPY

How and How Not to be HAPPY

In this weekend’s episode of The Mentors Radio, Host Tom Loarie talks with J. Budziszewski, Ph.D., an engaging professor at the University of Texas in Austin, a Catholic, and the author of How and How Not Be Happy. Learn the 13 myths of happiness, and identify the one simple key to true joy and a…

BOOK REVIEW: “Angels All Around Us” by Anthony DeStefano

BOOK REVIEW: “Angels All Around Us” by Anthony DeStefano

BOOK:  Angels All Around Us: A Sightseeing Guide to the Invisible World (formerly titled The Invisible World) , by Anthony DeStefano (Doubleday, 2011) I usually don’t read books that are sent to me unbidden.  Anthony DeStefano’s Angels All Around Us was mailed to me by Priests for Life, an organization I support financially.  If I…

BOOK REVIEW and Author Matthew Kelly:  The Messiness of Life Can Prevent Us from Focusing on Those Things That Lead to A Good Life

BOOK REVIEW and Author Matthew Kelly: The Messiness of Life Can Prevent Us from Focusing on Those Things That Lead to A Good Life

My relationship with New York Times best-selling author and speaker Matthew Kelly dates back to 2004 when another New York Times, best-selling author and friend Patrick Lencioni, brought him to my attention as a potential speaker for the Diocese of Oakland’s Catholics@Work (C@W) Speaker Series. Despite Kelly’s very busy schedule, we were able to bring…

BOOK REVIEW: Buscemi’s Guide to Understanding the Family Office as a Source of Capital

BOOK REVIEW: Buscemi’s Guide to Understanding the Family Office as a Source of Capital

I noticed a sea-change in the investment landscape about 10 years ago as family offices, which were relatively unknown to entrepreneurs as a source of capital, expanded from investing solely in investment funds to investing directly in young companies. Family offices provide a wide range of services tailored to meet the needs of high-net-worth individuals,…

BOOK REVIEW: Failure Is An Option: Rising Above Where We Are and Moving Us to What We Can Be

BOOK REVIEW: Failure Is An Option: Rising Above Where We Are and Moving Us to What We Can Be

I received a copy of Rich Karlgaard’s Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement to review just before it was a published. This book really resonated with me since I have been working with people in transition since 2001 through a parish based ministry. Over 6,000 executives, managers and…

The French geneticist Who Renounced a Nobel Prize to defend the unborn is on his way to sainthood

The French geneticist Who Renounced a Nobel Prize to defend the unborn is on his way to sainthood

French pediatrician and geneticist Jérôme Lejeune, renown for discovering the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome, was a devout Catholic. As a Catholic, Lejeune thought his historic discovery would lead to a more compassionate approach to children with the syndrome.  Instead—to his horror—Lejeune’s famous discovery became a tool used to diagnose Down Syndrome babies in…

Spirituality at the Intersection of a Career Transition and the Discernment of One’s Purpose

Spirituality at the Intersection of a Career Transition and the Discernment of One’s Purpose

A Review of Joe Murphy’s Spiritual Lifeboat. I was introduced to author Joe Murphy by Mary Jo Potter, the former Dignity Health Board Chair and a recent guest on my radio show, THE MENTORS RADIO. Mary Jo suggested we meet due to my work over 20 years helping more than 6,000 professionals navigate their career…

BOOK:  Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: Living life as an ‘explosion of joy’

BOOK: Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: Living life as an ‘explosion of joy’

CNA—Few young Catholic Blessed are more popular in the United States than Pier Giorgio Frassati. Numerous ministries, schools, youth camps and awards bear the name of the handsome and wealthy Italian Catholic activist who was equally known for his social justice concerns, his amiable character, his boisterous laughter and his accomplishments as an avid mountaineer.…

BOOK REVIEW: A true American hero who exchanged the cape for the collar: Fr. Aloysius Schwartz

BOOK REVIEW: A true American hero who exchanged the cape for the collar: Fr. Aloysius Schwartz

The only challenge in reading a compelling new biography of Fr. Aloysius Schwartz, a Washington, D.C. native—entitled Priest and Beggar: The Heroic Life of Venerable Fr. Aloysius Schwartz— is that it seems to transcend reality at times and bring the reader into the realm of mythical superheroes. However, in reading we learn that Aloysius was…

BOOK REVIEW: Understanding Demons and Miracles; Keys to Wisdom and Reducing Spiritual Vulnerability

BOOK REVIEW: Understanding Demons and Miracles; Keys to Wisdom and Reducing Spiritual Vulnerability

Book reviews of “The Catholic Guide to Miracles” and the “Diary of an American Exorcist” I fully embrace the reality of a spiritual dimension to life. It cannot be proven with science, but it can be observed and for some, experienced. I am grateful for having numerous spiritual guides and experiences over many years that…

Ascension Press Founder and President Matthew Pinto passes torch to COO Jonathan Strate

Ascension Press Founder and President Matthew Pinto passes torch to COO Jonathan Strate

Matthew Pinto, Founder and President of Ascension, announced today the sale of the company to Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Strate, who has become the company’s new owner, president, and CEO. “It has been an extraordinary gift to be able to do the work of evangelization and catechesis as a layman for these 22 years, alongside…

Bible Reading Boosts Mental Well-Being Among Christians, U.K. Survey Says

Bible Reading Boosts Mental Well-Being Among Christians, U.K. Survey Says

OCCatholic—Reading the Bible has had a positive effect on people’s “mental well-being” during the pandemic, according to a Christian Research survey conducted in the United Kingdom. The survey also found that respondents were reading the Bible more and turning to Bible-related videos more during the pandemic. The survey, carried out on behalf of the Bible…

A Christmas Gift: Life-Giving Nourishment for Both the Body and Soul

A Christmas Gift: Life-Giving Nourishment for Both the Body and Soul

The Pontifical Swiss Guard’s elegant “The Vatican Christmas Cookbook” is infused with the Spirit of Christmas with 100 recipes, stories and pictures that are an integral part of the Vatican Christmas narrative. In this beautifully illustrated book, authors David Geisser and Thomas Kelly have again successfully linked our physical and spiritual needs to food –…

BOOK REVIEW: A Special Operations Forces’ Guide to Recruiting & Assessment for Organizational Excellence

BOOK REVIEW: A Special Operations Forces’ Guide to Recruiting & Assessment for Organizational Excellence

In The Talent War, former Army officer, George Randle, and former Navy Seal, Mike Sarraille, join forces to share their decades of experience in talent acquisition and management. Randle is a strategic advisor to Sarraille’s EF Overwatch, and VP of Global Talent Acquisition for Forcepoint, a human-centric cybersecurity company. EF Overwatch is an executive search…

HISTORY: The Past gives valuable Perspective to the Present

HISTORY: The Past gives valuable Perspective to the Present

Popular culture holds a dismissive attitude toward history. Common headlines include “unprecedented times”, “worse than ever”, and “never before.” But how often is that really true? What do we face that is truly without precedent? This mindset—that all things have either escalated or de-escalated, that the present is always somehow more or less than the…

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