A review of ICARUS 2.0—Lt. Col. Peter Smith USAF (Ret) is one of the very few combat pilots to survive an ejection over 400 mph. ICARUS 2.0 is his story of survival and a checklist of learnings that can be used by all when facing uncertainty. After a daylight training mission over the Gulf of…
Raj Rajaratnam in his Uneven Justice shares his story of being handcuffed and arrested on the morning of October 2009 by five FBI agents and then convicted in Federal Court by New York’s U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, Preet Bharara for “insider trading.” Bharara alleged that 0.02 percent of the trades between 2003-2008 by…
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 [email protected] ([email protected]) Speaker Series. Despite Kelly’s very busy schedule, we were able to bring…
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,…
J.W. (Terry) Freiberg, social psychologist turned lawyer, explores what St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) called “The most terrible poverty” in his trilogy of books on loneliness – Four Seasons of Loneliness: A Lawyer’s Case Stories (2016), Growing Up Lonely: Disconnection and Misconnection in the Lives of our Children (2019), Surrounded by Others and Yet So…
Like many, I have had a sense something bigger is afoot in America than plain old partisan politics. I have not been able to connect all the dots, but I am finding dots to connect. Angelo M. Codevilla’s The Ruling Class (2010) and Matthew Lohmeier’s The Irresistible Revolution (2021) are two of the bigger dots…
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…
As he approaches his ninth decade of life, Monsignor Hilary C. Franco, author of Bishop Sheen: Mentor and Friend, has given us a gem of his reflections, Six Popes: A Son of the Church Remembers, encompassing a distinguished life that spans his nearly 70 years as a priest. As a son of Italian immigrants from…
A Book Review of Ken Rusk’s Blue Collar Cash: Love Your Work, Secure Your Future, and Find Happiness for Life— I had the good fortune of working in the construction industry as a bricklayer’s labor during my college years. It was very hard work, but it enabled me to develop physically beyond belief, work with…
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 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…
Two books layout today’s cosmic battle between Good and Evil and a Path Forward for Strength, Joy and Peace exceptionally well, as you’ll see below. Over the past year, Archbishop Carlo Vigano wrote a series of powerful letters addressing the evolving global formation of two opposing sides that he characterized as biblical, identifying the sides…
Just who is this Archbishop Carlo Vigano? Who is this man who released a Testimony that shook the Catholic Church and the World? Who is this man who wrote two open letters to former President Trump—one before and one after the 2016 election—in which he warned we were witnessing the formation of two opposing forces.…
Former South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy is a student of persuasion. He has learned that in the process of persuasion you either bring others closer to your way of thinking or at the very least, to learn about why it is you believe what you believe. Persuasion is an art, and it is about first…
March 17, 2021 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.…
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 –…
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…
by Thomas M. Loarie “Dazzled, Finding the Key to Perfect Forgiveness” is one of the best books I have read this year. It is very well-written and difficult to put down. Author Jess Echeverry, with the help of award-winning co-author Patti Maquire Armstrong, has written a dark story about today’s culture and the challenges faced…
I found Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell to be an excellent book. As someone who has served as a CEO of early stage companies for many years and has also been asked frequently for advice by growth minded professionals and entrepreneurs, this book resonated. My copy is dog-eared and…
Joel Manby’s Love Works: Seven Timeless Principles for Effective Leaders is an excellent book that is worth your time and money. Over the course of my career, there have been hundreds of books published on leadership effectiveness. While they all have their own twist, the best of them all share a common thread. They are all…