Research Triangle Park in North Carolina (RTP) emerged under the unique circumstances of a poor Southern state that needed to find a way to offset the declining industries of tobacco, furniture, and textiles in the 1950s. Through the sustained commitment of nearby universities, business leaders, and local and state officials, state leaders established the largest science and research park in the United States in an area that was nothing but “possums and pines.” Miracle Road: The Story of Research Triangle Park (Duke University Press, 2026) tells this story through the eyes of those at the center of it, like the local black leaders who convinced white officials to desegregate public schools with the justification that it would make the area more appealing to tech companies, or how a chance meeting between the governor and a Danish executive led to North Carolina becoming an epicenter for weight loss drugmakers decades later. Allen Paul and Mack Paul organize the story around major periods in RTP’s growth, showing how RTP came to define the region and the state by the 1990s as well as the major setbacks it encountered in the early 2000s. Breaking down the strategies that led to RTP’s success, like creating new institutions in targeted tech areas to spur activity and factoring quality of life into the regional planning of the area, Miracle Road demonstrates how the story of Research Triangle Park is a fascinating and important case study of urban development in the twenty-first century.

Mack Paul cofounded Morningstar Law Group, where he is a partner. He teaches land use law at North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University. Mack served as chair of the Greater Triangle Regional Council and has written extensively about the development of the Triangle Region.

Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network.

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For more than two decades, Andrew Brandt has lived at the intersection of money, law, and sports—first as a player agent, then as vice president of the Green Bay Packers during the franchise’s most iconic quarterback transition, and now as a widely respected educator and analyst for ESPN and Sports Illustrated.

In Smarter about Sports: My Life Navigating Athletes, Agents, Media, and the Business of the NFL (Triumph Books, 2026) Brandt pulls back the curtain on the modern sports industry, revealing what really happens behind the deals, decisions, and drama. With sharp insight and rare access, he explores the true dynamics between players, agents, general managers, and owners, as well as the often-invisible legal and financial forces shaping every major move in sports today. From negotiating with Brett Favre and drafting Aaron Rodgers to navigating Ricky Williams’ roller-coaster career to helping launch the NFL’s European expansion, Brandt’s journey offers a masterclass in how sports really work.

For die-hard NFL fans and curious spectators, this essential read illuminates the game behind the games we love. 

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Stop waiting for permission to lead!

Most of us have suffered under badly behaved managers, enduring micromanagement, navigating toxic "mindfields," and watching great ideas die at the bottlenecks of the traditional chain of command.

We’ve been sold a lie: that leadership is a title, a rank, or a corner office. Clinging to this outdated assumption limits your potential and leaves your team trapped in a cycle of cynicism and burnout.

What if leadership isn’t a position you attain but a set of practices you choose?

In the fully revised second edition of What the Heck Is Leadership?, Gary A. DePaul, PhD, dismantles the top-down myths that hold organizations back. He clarifies the crucial distinction between management (a neutral tool for coordinating tasks) and leadership (the intentional practice of helping others mature mentally and morally).  You don’t need formal authority to transform your workplace. You just need the right principles and a new way of being.

This isn't a book of abstract theories; it’s a practical, creative guide for the 21st-century workplace. Inside, you’ll discover how to:

1. Break the Traps of Traditional Leadership: Stop equating power with leadership and learn why giving up control actually strengthens your team.
2. Neutralize Workplace Toxicity: Identify and navigate adult bullying, pervasive cynicism, and high-conflict behaviors that quietly erode psychological safety.
3. Harness the Compound Effect: Use small, incremental daily actions to build the invisible momentum that sustainably transforms your culture over time.
4. Build True Community: Shift from isolated groups to collaborative networks united by a shared purpose.

Leadership isn't something you are; it's something you do. It's about being a lighthouse anchored in principles, guiding others through the storm and empowering others to perform at their best.

Gary A. DePaul PhD is an author, educator, consultant, and speaker whose work explores a deceptively simple question: What helps people do their best work? Drawing on decades of experience in performance improvement, learning and development, human resources, consulting, and university teaching, he helps individuals and organizations turn leadership ideas into everyday practices.

Gary believes leadership has been needlessly complicated and too often associated with titles and positions of authority. Instead, he views leadership as a set of intentional practices that anyone can use to help others grow, strengthen relationships, and improve the workplace.

You can follow his work or connect with him via LinkedIn or contact him at [email protected].
  

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Whether you’re hoping to publish your first book or you’re a seasoned author with an unfinished proposal languishing on your hard drive, The Book Proposal Book provides honest and invaluable advice on how to overcome common sticking points and get your book published. It also shows why a well-conceived proposal can help lead to an outstanding book. The Book Proposal Book cuts through the mystery and guides you through the process of crafting a compelling proposal and pitching it to university presses and other academic publishers.

This episode explores: what a book proposal is and isn’t; why you have to write one; the importance of seeking the right “fit” for your manuscript; pitching quirky books; the difference between a book’s topic and argument; and how to summarize your project in just one sentence.

Guest: Dr. Laura Portwood Stacer is a developmental editor and publishing consultant for academic authors. She is the author of The Book Proposal Book and Make Your Manuscript Work.

Host: Dr. Christina Gessler is the creator of the Academic Life podcast and the show’s weekly newsletter. She is a writing coach and dissertation coach.

Playlist for listeners:

• Where Does Research Begin
• Make Your Manuscript Work
• Project Management For Researchers
• Find Your Argument
• Dissertations Wanted: An Acquiring Editor Explains
• Turning A Dissertation Into A Book
• The Dissertation To Book Workbook
• The Top Ten Struggles in Writing A Book Manuscript and What To Do About It
• Dealing With Rejection
• Facing Failure
• Subatomic Writing
• Becoming The Writer You Already Are
• Open-Access Publishing Explained
• DIY Writing Retreats
• PhDing While Parenting
• The Peer Review Process
• Before And After The Book Deal
• Finishing Your Book When Life Is A Disaster

Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Please join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 325+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening!

This episode was originally published on 8/12/2021

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In this episode of International Horizons, host John Torpey sits with Pepper Culpepper, Blavatnik Professor of Government and Public Policy at the University of Oxford, to explore the core thesis of his recent book, Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy (co-authored with Taeku Lee).

Drawing historical parallels to the American Progressive Era and the trust-busting of the early 20th century, Culpepper explains how corporate missteps act as catalysts for public action. The discussion delves into the concept of "latent opinion"—the submerged, widespread unease regarding corporate power, tech monopolies, and unchecked wealth that may be missed by conventional polling endeavors — and how high-profile scandals mobilize this sentiment into concrete regulatory reform. From the fiasco of Cambridge Analytica and controversies over AI data centers to the rising political tension surrounding billionaires, this conversation offers a nuanced, "possibilist" framework for how public outrage can revitalize democratic institutions and establish essential guardrails for modern capitalism.

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Jen Ford Reedy has served as President of the Minnesota-based Bush Foundation since 2012. In her perennially popular Philanthropy 101 classes, Reedy tells her students: Everyone is a beginner when they join a foundation. Foundation board and staff members come from a variety of professional backgrounds and bring their talents and skills into the field. But even if you’ve been successful in other sectors, you must adapt your skills to be effective in the world of philanthropy.

Please Be Good at Philanthropy: An Introduction to Grantmaking Strategy and Practice (Disruption Books, 2026) explains how to do just that. Reedy lays out five truths of philanthropic strategy that will help you shift to a philanthropic mindset. Then she dives into the basic steps of good foundation practice that will truly benefit the people and organizations you serve. 

Clear examples and reflective questions help new foundation board and staff members understand their organizations’ purposes and thoughtfully manage the risks and tradeoffs in their organizations’ approaches. Each chapter includes stories of both successes and failures that show philanthropic practice in action and offer industry newcomers insight into what has worked for other foundations.

Like a trusted mentor who helps you through your first months in a new job, Reedy imparts endlessly useful advice to help you get good at doing good. 

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In Hollywood today, thousands of data specialists work for streaming video platforms, playing a role not just in distribution and marketing but also in decisions about content and production. In Data-Driven Hollywood: The New Data Professionals in the Age of Streaming (Princeton UP, 2026), Violaine Roussel examines the emergence of this new category of professionals at the heart of the Hollywood dream factory. Roussel shows how the rise of data and algorithm specialists has transformed organizations and rearranged power relationships within them. Drawing on extensive interviews and in situ observations, she describes the ways that technical “data work” carried out by professionals at streaming platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ has had a significant effect on creative decisions.
Rather than fetishizing data and algorithmic models, Roussel explores the practices of the professionals who shape them, manipulate them, and give them power. She examines the relationships of these workers with traditional producers, describing legitimacy struggles and the eventual stabilization of new professional arrangements. Roussel’s account of the ways that data specialists deploy algorithmic models to reinvent their industry’s approach to content, artists, and the market—the first in-depth sociological study of the rise of this new profession—reveals the new forms of power and knowledge at play in today’s Hollywood.

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Alfie Marcus is ordinarily the host of On the Cusp Between Strategy and Ethics, where he interviews authors about the intersection of organizational strategy, corporate responsibility, and the changing role of business in society. Today, however, I’m in the host seat and Alfie is joining as the guest to discuss his own new book, Comeback: Can Great Companies Rise Again? from the University of Toronto Press. Alfie is a Professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management where he holds the Edson Spencer Endowed Chair In Strategy And Technological Leadership. Comeback encapsulates more than 4 decades of research and teaching, seeking to understand why great companies struggle and how they can best chart a path back to success. Many people are familiar with the remarkable story of Apple, including its initial success, implosion, and the triumphant return of co-founder Steve Jobs. Most companies, even great ones, are not like Apple. They rise to prominence, plateau, lose relevance, and must navigate complex market conditions. Each chapter in Comeback presents a case study, walking readers through the companies major challenges, prompting them to think about how they might handle the issues faced by companies like Amazon, Intel, Pepsi, and Disney. For every major company that manages to reinvent itself, there are dozens that failed: think of Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Circuit City, Blockbuster, Toys R Us, Yahoo and many, many more. There are no simple solutions, magic bullets, or easy paths, even for well-positioned incumbents. To help listeners understand what makes for a great comeback story, I’m pleased today to speak with Alfie Marcus.

Alfred A. Marcus is a professor and Edson Spencer endowed chair in strategy and technological leadership at Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.

Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network.

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Baruch Fischhoff's Bounded Disciplines and Unbounded Problems: A Vision for Management Science (Oxford University Press, 2025), part of the Clarendon Lectures in Management series) tackles a central tension in academia that disciplines are organized around narrow, bounded methods and theories, while the real-world problems society faces such as climate change, public health, financial crises, technology risk are messy, unbounded, and refuse to respect departmental boundaries. Fischhoff argues that business schools are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap because they already house faculty with both rigorous analytical training and applied, real-world orientation. The book proposes concrete ways management schools can restructure incentives, training, and collaboration so scholars can excel in their discipline while still meaningfully engaging with intractable societal problems.

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The Grant Writing Guide: A Road Map for Scholars (Princeton UP, 2023) is an essential handbook for writing fundable grants. This easy-to-use guide features writing samples, a glossary of important terms, answers common questions, and explains pitfalls to avoid. Dr. Betty Lai focuses on skills that are universal to all grant writers, not just specific skills for one type of grant or funder. She explains how to craft phenomenal pitches and align them with your values, structure timelines and drafts, communicate clearly in prose and images, solicit feedback to strengthen your proposals, and much more. This incisive book walks you through every step along the way, from generating ideas to finding the right funder, determining which grants help you create the career you want, and writing in a way that excites reviewers and funders.

This episode explores: how to align your values and interests with a grant opportunity;

why most of us will end up needing a grant; things you can learn from a grant proposal that succeeded, and from one that didn’t; what your grant reviewer really needs from you and why; and how to use the funder’s guidelines and terminology to your advantage.

Guest: Dr. Betty S. Lai is an associate professor in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, among others. Her work has been recognized with awards from the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Foundation.

Host: Dr. Christina Gessler is the producer of the both Academic Life podcast and the show’s weekly newsletter. She is a writing coach and developmental editor for academics.

Listeners to this episode may be interested in:

Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Please join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 325+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening!

This episode was originally published on Feb 2, 2023.

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