Books

Stories about people doing the hard part of the job.

Leadership through Star Trek, the real James Bond of Ian Fleming's novels, and the Nathan Calder legal thrillers.

Nonfiction
When the Captain Is Wrong — book cover
Leadership

When the Captain Is Wrong

Starship Lessons on Managing Up and Becoming a Boss Worth Disagreeing With
How to tell a boss they're wrong so it can be heard, and how to become a boss people can tell, taught through Star Trek's best moments on the bridge.

Your boss is about to make a mistake. You can see it coming. What you do next is the job. Drawing mainly on The Next Generation and its films, with Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Picard, Discovery, Strange New Worlds and the original series, the book follows Starfleet officers at the moment the captain is about to get it wrong: Riker serving a captain he didn't choose, a cadet deciding whether to keep covering for his friends, Sisko standing up to the mentor who made him, Chakotay arguing against a deal with the Borg.

The lessons live inside the stories, the way Star Trek always taught them: when to speak up, when to take it up the line, what to do when the boss never comes around, and how to become the kind of captain people can tell. No viewing required. A cast list, glossary and episode guide are in the back.

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An independent work of commentary. Not authorized, sponsored or endorsed by CBS Studios or Paramount.
Built for the Mission — book cover
Psychology

Built for the Mission

The Psychology of Ian Fleming's James Bond
The James Bond of Fleming's novels is more frightened, warmer and far more interesting than the legend. This book is about him.

Fleming said he meant Bond to be a blunt instrument, and the films mostly took him at his word. The novels tell a different story: a Bond who prays under torture, weeps in the sea when an assignment ends, and walks into danger frightened far more often than any film lets him look.

Each chapter takes up a question Bond fans actually argue about. Is he cold? Is he afraid? Is he a psychopath? Is he any good at his job? Why does he drink? Why does it never last with women? How do the six screen Bonds compare with the man on the page? Every answer is argued in the open, with the strongest scene against it given its full weight, and the ugly parts are named plainly.

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An unofficial reading. Not authorized, sponsored or endorsed by Ian Fleming Publications, EON Productions or Danjaq.
Fiction · The Nathan Calder Thrillers

Nathan Calder is a court-appointed receiver: when a business collapses into fraud and lawsuits, a judge hands him the keys. He can rebuild a broken company in his head and win any argument in any room. People are another matter.

TAKE POSSESSION — book cover
Book 1

TAKE POSSESSION

A Nathan Calder Thriller
A receiver takes over a dying Tennessee resort and finds a dead man under the fuel dock, a payroll he can't cover, and a family that wants him gone.

At 5:41 on a Wednesday morning, Nathan Calder takes possession of Whitlow Springs Resort with a court order, a locksmith and a lawyer who tells him what he can't do. By 6:12 there is a dead night auditor under the marina's fuel dock. By noon he knows Friday's payroll is $842,000 and the operating account holds $41,300.

Calder has fourteen receiverships behind him and a rule that he never says a number he can't defend. What he cannot do is see fear in the people in front of him. The bank that petitioned for him wants him quiet, the judge who appointed him can remove him with a signature, and Memorial Day is twenty-seven days out.

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DIVERT — book cover
Book 2

DIVERT

A Nathan Calder Thriller
Calder takes over a failing rural hospital that owes an insurer $9.6 million, and this time he can see the fear in the people around him.

At 5:40 on a Tuesday morning, Nathan Calder takes possession of a forty-nine-bed hospital in Cocke County, Tennessee, wearing a splint on the wrist two men broke in his last job. By noon he knows Thursday's payroll is $760,000, the 418 people he is paying are legally employed by a company in Franklin, and an insurer wants $9,640,000 back.

This time Calder can read the room: the chief nursing officer who gives a surveyor a number that isn't true, the doctor whose signature is on every order, the best nurse in the building. What he can't see is what a frightened person needs after he is done with her. Then, at two in the morning on a Saturday, every screen in the building goes dark.

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Also in progress

The 12 Laws of Healthcare Operations

The evidence-backed system for seeing why hospitals stall, and designing the failure out. Available now as an online course.

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