New Books in Business, Management, and Marketing

Dov Baron is also the author of Fiercely Loyal and One Red Thread. He’s one of the world’s foremost authorities on authentic leadership and cultural transformation. He’s been ranked among the top 30 Global Leadership Gurus and honored by Inc. magazine as one of the top 100 leadership speakers.
What do our formative years deliver each of us? The answer is an emotive “source code” that takes “hidden wounds” that magnifies them when we’re under stress on the job or elsewhere. What adds to workers’ stress? A pervasive feeling of loneliness created by circumstances in which people don’t feel like belong to an organization that cares about them. With compassion and eloquence, Dov Baron delves into everything from Vladimir Putin’s crippling lack of trust to Unilever’s success with purpose-driven training to lift employees’ intrinsic motivation in The Art of Belonging: How Conformity Silences Genius and How to Unleash It (Above the Noise, 2027). There’s even the bonus of learning what kind of music enthralls our guest, and why. Listening in here is, frankly, worth it even just for hearing Baron explain the dynamics of how stress is both helpful and not helpful in orchestrating change. Enjoy.
To learn more or contact Dov please visit his website here.
Real Transformations: Business Change That Works from the Inside Out is co-hosted by Julie Anixter and Dan Hill, PhD, entrepreneurs with deep experience as corporate change agents, devoted to helping companies make continuous change work for everyone through clarity and connection. To learn about their keynote talks, workshops and labs, check out Real-Transformation.comhttps://dovbaron.com/tag/belonging/

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Today I’m speaking with Stephanie Williams, Director of Wayne State University Press, and president of the Association of University Presses. Every year, NBN speaks with the president of AUPresses in anticipation of University Press Week. This year, press week will take place from November 9 through the 13th, with the theme: #PowerUP. To celebrate, I’m thrilled to speak with Stephanie Williams about all things UPs.
University Press Week Info
Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network.

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In this episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Maude Barlow, who has spent decades at the center of the global water justice movement. She is the honorary chairperson of the Council of Canadians, a co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, and served as senior advisor on water to the president of the United Nations General Assembly, where she helped win the 2010 resolution recognizing water as a human right. She has written or co-written nearly twenty books, including Blue Gold, Blue Covenant, and Still Hopeful. Her latest book, Earth for Sale: The Fight to Stop the Last Plunder of the Commons, was published by ECW Press in 2026.
Most of us agree the natural world is in crisis. Barlow's prescient warning is about who we are trusting to fix it. Governments, claiming they cannot afford conservation on their own, are inviting the same energy, chemical, agribusiness, and bottled water corporations that caused the damage to manage the recovery. On the theory that the best way to save nature is to put a price on it. Behind friendly terms like "nature-based solutions" and "ecosystem services" lies a fast-growing market in carbon credits, debt-for-nature swaps, biodiversity offsets, conservation bonds, and water futures. Drawing on detailed examples from around the world, Barlow argues that this financialization of nature is a false solution. It is one that too few people, including many environmentalists, have noticed, and she makes the case for keeping the stewardship of the commons in public and community hands.
Our conversation ranges from the rights of nature movement and the trouble with carbon trading to the new colonialism of finance conservation, the global water wars, and why, after a lifetime of activism, she still believes hope is a moral imperative. As I mention in the episode, what struck me even before we spoke is how well researched the book is, with every issue illuminated clearly and backed by a wide array of sources. It is one reason I am passionate about people reading it. Please enjoy getting to learn more about Maude and her work in this interview.

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Cybersecurity is often presented as a technological challenge: protecting computer networks, preventing attacks and investing in increasingly sophisticated security systems. Yet even the most advanced technology may prove inadequate if organisations cannot interpret threats, communicate their consequences or respond effectively. What role does communication play in building cyber resilience, and why should it matter to business leaders as much as to cybersecurity specialists?
In this episode, Bernardo Bátiz-Lazo speaks with Nina Paine and Ashley Sweetman about Communicating Cyber Risk: Build Cyber Resilience Through Compelling Communication (Kogan Page, 2026). They discuss the book's origins and the distinction between cybersecurity and cyber resilience. Their conversation examines the role of organisational structures and management practices in shaping responses to cyber threats, as well as the challenges of communicating risk across organisational levels.
Particular attention is paid to the financial sector, where banks depend on interconnected technological infrastructures, payment networks and external service providers. The discussion considers what makes cybersecurity particularly challenging in banking, how multinational financial institutions navigate diverse regulatory environments and organisational cultures, and whether lessons from large international banks can be applied to smaller financial institutions and fintech companies.
The interview also addresses the relationship between organisational and systemic resilience. Financial institutions do not operate in isolation, and cyber incidents can have consequences extending well beyond individual firms. This raises questions about the responsibilities of banks, regulators, governments and other participants in the financial system, as well as the challenges of sharing sensitive information across institutional boundaries.
Drawing on the authors' professional experience and their interviews with senior cybersecurity practitioners, the conversation considers what their research reveals about organisational responses to cyber risk and the extent to which these findings can be generalised across different institutional settings.
Ultimately, the book invites readers to think about cybersecurity not simply as a technical responsibility but as an organisational challenge involving leadership, communication and the management of risk in an increasingly interconnected world.
References and further reading:
Arsenault, B. (Host). (2021, July 7). Leading an inclusive workforce: Emma Smith, Vodafone (No. 8) [Audio podcast episode]. In Security Unlocked: CISO Series with Bret Arsenault. Microsoft; The CyberWire Network. here
Bátiz-Lazo, B. (Host). (2022, November 1). Ashley Sweetman, "Cyber and the City: Securing London's Banks in the Computer Age" (Springer, 2022) [Audio podcast episode]. In New Books Network. here
Kaplan, J. M., Bailey, T., O'Halloran, D., Marcus, A., & Rezek, C. (2015). Beyond cybersecurity: Protecting your digital business. John Wiley & Sons. here
Paine, N., & Sweetman, A. (2026). Communicating cyber risk: Build cyber resilience through compelling communication. Kogan Page. here
Smith, E. (2026, July 29). Trust in a connected world: Why cyber resilience matters. Vodafone. here
Sweetman, A. (2022). Cyber and the city: Securing London's banks in the computer age. Springer. here

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Veronica Villarreal earned her joint MHA/MBA at the University of Houston–Clear Lake, took her first job out of the program at DHR Health in the Rio Grande Valley, and worked her way up through revenue cycle and operations into the C-suite. She served as Chief Ambulatory Officer over a network of roughly 75 clinic locations and more than 30 specialty service lines. She then moved to UT Health Rio Grande Valley, where she is now Chief Operating Officer.
Along the way, she wrote the book she wishes someone had handed her. C-Suite Bound: How Self-Discovery Leads to Ultimate Success became an Amazon bestseller and was featured in Forbes.
In this episode, Veronica traces the actual route: why revenue cycle turned out to be an executive on-ramp rather than a detour, what an interim title really tests, what it takes to move from a private specialty network into an academic health system, and why she thinks comparison is the thing most likely to derail a talented person’s career.
Flight Path is produced by the Department of Healthcare Administration at the University of Houston–Clear Lake, which has offered healthcare administration education since 1974 and is based in the Texas Medical Center.
A University of Houston - Clear Lake MHA/MBA grad who climbed from revenue cycle to COO, and then wrote the roadmap for everyone behind her.
GUEST BIO
Veronica Villarreal, MHA/MBA, is Chief Operating Officer of UT Health Rio Grande Valley.
At UT Health RGV, she previously served as Assistant Vice President of Operations, leading multi-site ambulatory operations.
Before that, she was Chief Ambulatory Officer at DHR Health Clinics, overseeing approximately 75 clinic locations across more than 30 specialty and sub-specialty service lines.
She began her career in ambulatory revenue cycle.
She is the author of C-Suite Bound: How Self-Discovery Leads to Ultimate Success, an Amazon bestseller featured in Forbes.
She holds a joint Master of Healthcare Administration and Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.
LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE
C-Suite Bound: How Self-Discovery Leads to Ultimate Success
Veronica’s website
Veronica on LinkedIn
UHCL alumni feature, “From quiet corners to big impact”

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