Tag: Book Spotlight

Book Spotlight: ‘Uncommon Sense’ by Mel Blackwell

‘Uncommon Sense’ by Mel Blackwell features battle-tested culture secrets from a former EOS Integrator. Photo: Barnes & Noble

Book Spotlight: Uncommon Sense: The Fight to Fix Your Workplace Culture in the Wild West of Business

By Mel Blackwell

Does your business look successful on the outside but feel chaotic on the inside?

Are you stuck in constant firefighting, watching the same problems repeat while people dodge responsibility and culture slowly erodes? Is your culture just dysfunctional enough that everyone’s comfortably miserable, too afraid of the change that actually removes the root obstacles? (Barnes & Noble, 2026)

You don’t need another trendy leadership theory. You need something that actually works. Fix your culture, and all metrics improve immeasurably.

The Synopsis

After more than 35 years leading startups, turnarounds, and large organizations, former EOS Integrator Mel Blackwell has seen what really breaks businesses, and what actually fixes them. He’s led from the shop floor to the C-suite, rebuilt broken teams, and helped leaders move from chaos to clarity when pressure was real and payroll was due.

Uncommon Sense: The Fight to Fix Your Workplace Culture in the Wild West of Business is built on battle-tested leadership, not buzzwords. Through gritty stories, plainspoken wisdom, and practical tools, Mel shows you how to build a culture that can take a hit, solve problems fast, and keep moving forward.

This book doesn’t sell theory. It gives you a roadmap.

What You’ll Learn inside:

  • Problem-Solving over Complaining: How to build a solution-oriented culture.
  • Leverage & Traction: How to build winning momentum directly into your company culture.
  • Structure First: Why structure must come before people, and how to get it right.
  • True Accountability: How to lead with ownership, not excuses.
  • The Toxicity Antidote: A system for eliminating toxic behavior that attracts, empowers, and develops good people.
  • The Best Pledge™: How to get the absolute best from your team (because people at their worst self will never deliver best practices).
  • Alignment & Execution: How to align your team around a unified vision and stellar execution.
  • The Two Visions: Why every organization needs two visions—and exactly how to use them.
  • Courageous Leadership: How to lead with courage and win when pressure hits.

Plus, you’ll discover why most leaders are “worshipping problems” instead of solving them, why not everyone belongs in every role, and how real leadership shows up when things get tough.

Why This Book is Different

This book doesn’t read like a consultant talking at you. It’s written by a mentor walking beside you, telling the truth, sharing the scars, and showing you what works in the trenches.

When you apply what’s inside, leadership gets clearer. Problems get smaller. Teams get stronger. You gain leverage, and your business becomes something that can survive storms instead of being wrecked by them.

If you’re tired of drifting, guessing, and putting out fires, it is time to lead with clarity, courage, and confidence.

👉 Buy Uncommon Sense Today and Start Building a Culture That Actually Works!

About the Author

Mel Blackwell

Senior Executive Mel Blackwell is a visionary renowned for driving extraordinary results and fostering high-performing cultures using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). With over three decades of unparalleled expertise in operations, sales, and marketing, Mel’s diverse experience spans industries from forestry and wood products to global trade shows, 3D agency marketing, telecom, and software, leading organizations from startups to billion-dollar enterprises.

Holding a BS in Marketing from Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business and an MA in Management from The University of Alabama’s Manderson Graduate School of Business, he masterfully combines academic rigor with real-world mastery.

As a dynamic public speaker, storyteller, and thought leader, Mel captivates audiences with his sharp insights, infectious energy, vivid metaphors, and plain-spoken humor. Attendees leave his talks not only entertained, but equipped with actionable tools to drive success in their organizations.

‘CRAFT Thinking’: The Practical Playbook for Everyday AI Work

‘CRAFT Thinking’ is the new book by Philip Topham. Photo: Barnes & Noble

Book Spotlight: CRAFT Thinking: A Playbook for Clear Thinking and Better Decisions with AI

By Philip Topham

Get clearer thinking and better decisions with AI without becoming a prompt engineer.

CRAFT Thinking gives you a simple, five-step method that sharpens how you think, improves the questions you ask, and helps you get consistently better results from any artificial intelligence tool. It’s practical, repeatable, and built for everyday work, not technical experts. (Barnes & Noble, 2026)

The CRAFT Chain Reaction:

  • When your thinking improves, your prompts improve.
  • When your prompts improve, your decisions improve.

Whether you lead a company, manage a team, or simply want to do better work with AI, this playbook gives you the structure to turn uncertainty into clarity and AI conversations into meaningful insight.

The Bottom Line: > AI won’t make your work smarter. Clear thinking will, and CRAFT shows you how.

Get your copy today!

About the Author

Philip Topham

Strategic AI Advisor, Speaker, & Creator of the CRAFT Thinking™ Method

Philip Topham is a strategic AI advisor, speaker, and creator of the CRAFT Thinking™ method, a framework designed to bring clarity, intentionality, and better decision-making into the AI era.

With a career spanning corporate leadership, startup ventures, and board advisory, Philip combines the rigor of an engineer with the insight of a relationship-focused strategist. He’s earned two U.S. patents, contributed to peer-reviewed research, and worked across industries from health tech to clean tech to biotech. What sets him apart is not just his technical depth, it’s his shift toward human-centered leadership.

After stepping away to be a stay-at-home dad, Philip returned with a deeper understanding of what it means to lead with care and purpose. He brings that mindset into his work today, helping leaders think with AI, not just use it, so their organizations can grow wisely, inclusively, and sustainably.

Philip serves as co-chair of the National AI Special Interest Group for the Private Directors Association, and publishes regularly at SavionAI: The Shift.

“AI should serve all of humanity—not just the elite. And it’s our shared responsibility to build companies and institutions worthy of that promise.”

Book Spotlight: ‘Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon’s Journey’ by Craig Yorke

‘Steep’ is the new memoir by Craig Yorke. Photo: Barnes & Noble

Book Spotlight: Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon’s Journey by Craig Yorke

Steep traces an odyssey from a gritty Boston neighborhood to a neurosurgical practice in Middle America. It’s more about the price of success than the weight of bigotry – a story of resilience and self-discovery that will resonate with anyone who has wrestled with their past as they chased the American Dream. (PR by the Book, 2026)

The word “steep” has two meanings: the adjective that conjures a precipitous climb—or descent—but also the verb that connotes a ripening or maturing over time. Both definitions are evident in Yorke’s story, one that will resonate with anyone who’s run from their past, and anyone whose world feels too small.

Get your copy today!

Praise for Steep

“Written with the deftness of a brain surgeon and the ear of a concert violinist, Steep is the unforgettably moving story of one man’s life and times. But it is also a wise and courageous commentary on our time.”

— Cyrus Console-Soican, Ph.D., Professor of Liberal Arts, Kansas City Art Institute

About the Author

Dr. Craig Yorke was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He received a BA from Harvard College in 1970 and an MD from Harvard Medical School in 1974. His parental directive insisted he avenge centuries of bigotry with a life of infinite success.

After a neurosurgical residency at the University of California at San Francisco, he and his wife Mary found their way to an unlikely destination. He practiced in Topeka, Kansas, for 25 years, wrestling with his history and the armored identity it had imposed.

He’s a credible violinist, having played the Bruch G Minor concerto with the Boston Pops at age 17, and hits tennis balls with passion. Steep is his first book.