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Belarusian National Arts Museum

We visited this museum in July 2024, during some days we spent working remotely while visiting my in laws. We spent a weekend in Minsk and took advantage to visit it. The Museum is considered to be the largest art museum in Belarus. It comprises more than thirty thousands works of art, which make up various collections organized in two big sections: the one of national art and the other of art…

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Book Review: The Geek Way - The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results

The book is written byAndrew McAfee, who is is New York Times bestselling co-author of The Second Machine Age. He is the co-director of the IDE and a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. As presented in his bio, his research investigates how information technology changes the way companies perform, organize themselves, and compete. The twenty main takeaways that I…

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Book Review: Descubrí que estaba muerto - por João Paulo Cuenca

Este es un libro que compré durante nuestras vacaciones de Diciembre 2023 en México. Lo encontré en una librería en Mérida, Yucatán, ubicada sobre la avenida Paseo Montejo, emblemática de la ciudad. El título y descripción del libro me llamaron la atención en forma inmediata. Está escrito por João Paulo Cuenca, quien es un escritor brasileño-argentino, autor de seis libros. La contraportada del…

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Book Review: High-Velocity Culture Change - A Handbook for Managers

This handbook is written by Price Pritchett and Ron Pound. I received it from President Michael Crow’s office, as part of the key references that his office usually distributes so Arizona State University (ASU) leadership understands the ‘why,’, ‘what,’ ‘who,’ ‘how’ and ‘when’ associated to the vision that ASU deploys as a public enterprise. The book included a note from President Crow…

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Book Review: Balancing Acts - Unleashing the Power of Creativity in Your Life and Work

The book is written by Daniel Lamar, Vice Chairman of the Cirque Du Soleil. I got this book as a present that was given to all participants that attended UNICON’s 2023 Team Development Conference 9TDC), hosted by HEC Montreal in Montreal, Canada. I serve as emeritus board member of UNICON, and Daniel was one of the keynote speakers of such TDC, so I had a chance to meet him and hear him share…

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Book Review: Public Values Leadership - Striving to Achieve Democratic Ideals

This book is written by Barry Bozeman and Michael M. Crow. I received this book directly from President Crow’s office, as part of the books and references that he shares with ASU leadership quite often to communicate ASU’s vision, rationale and priorities. The twenty main takeaways that I got out of this book are presented below: Background about both authors: Crow, likewise, had attended…

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Book Review: Learning Planetizen Manifesto - Together Tackling the Challenges of the 21st Century

The book is written by Franciois Taddei, who is based in France and who I met during a visit he made to Arizona State University (ASU) to explore collaboration opportunities. He gave me the book as a present by the end of our conversation. The image below presents a brief message he included to summarize our conversation and the insights he got pitched of it: The twenty-two main takeaways that I…

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Book Review: The Fifth Wave

The book is written by Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University. Malcolm Gladwell describes President Crow and this book as follows: “In a perfect world, we would clone Michael Crow, so every university would have the same advantage as Arizona State University. Until that happens, The Fifth Wave is our next best option.” Robert J. Zimmer, former President of the University of Chicago…

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Book Review: Experiential Intelligence - Harness the Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs

The main thesis of this book, written by Soren Kaplan, is that “Experiential Intelligence reveals how our past experiences impact our present success and future opportunities in ways we often don’t recognize.” The author claims that, while we cannot change what has happened to us or how we have responded to it, within our unique stories are hidden strengths waiting to be discovered. He argues…

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Book Review: El Conejo en la Cara de la Luna - Ensayos sobre la mitología de la tradición mesoamericana

Decidí comprar este libro durante una visita rápida a la librería del Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE) en Toluca, mi ciudad natal. El título y descripción general del libro atrajeron mi atención, al ilustrar aspectos interesantes de tradiciones mesoamericanas. El libro está escrito por Alfredo López Austin, quien es considerado uno de los más destacados estudiosos del pensamiento y la religión…

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Juan Beckman Gallardo Cultural Center - Tequila, Jalisco. México 🇲🇽

We visited this Cultural Center during a one-day trip to Tequila, Jalisco. We arrived there through the charming “Tequila Cuervo Train” that departs from Guadalajara and which takes around two hours. The Juan Beckman Gallardo Cultural Center holds different exhibitions, including a series of 17th to 19th-century carriages. Inside the building, there is a collection of over 1,500 miniature…

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Book Review: How the West Brought War to Ukraine - Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe

This book is written by Benjamin Abelow, who has worked in Washington, DC, writing, lecturing, and lobbying Congress about nuclear arms policy. Abelow holds a B.A. in modern European history from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.D. from the Yale University School of Medicine. I went through this book to get a different perspective than the one usually presented in Western media, and…

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The National Library of Belarus - Minsk, Belarus 🇧🇾

After arriving to Belarus to spend a couple of weeks with my in-laws and work remotely from their place, we decided to spend a weekend in Minsk. In addition to visiting friends in this city, one of the reasons to spend the weekend there was to visit the National Library of Belarus. The National Library is an attractive landmark of Belarus. Nowadays, the library is more than a rich collection of…

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Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War - Minsk, Belarus 🇧🇾

After arriving to Belarus to spend a couple of weeks with my in-laws and work remotely from there, we decided to spend a weekend in Minsk. One of the reasons to come to the country’s capital was to visit the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War which, as presented in its website, is the most visited one in Belarus. The museum is a great choice for everyone who is…

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Uplistsikhe Cave Town - Georgia 🇬🇪

Uplistsikhe Cave Town-Fortress is situated on a rocky massif about 15 km from Gori, Georgia. We stopped to visit this place prior to spending one night in Gori, while being on our way to the Caucasus Mountains. This Cave Town is also located aside the river Mtkvari and, in addition to the caves, it has a very comprehensive and interesting museum. We learned that the fortress built in these caves…

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Book Review: The New Learning Economy

The book is written by Martin Betts and Michael Rosemann. Martin is Emeritus Professor at Griffith University, having served as Deputy Vice Chancellor of Engagement until 2020. He leads the higher education sector with experience from seven universities in three continents. He is co-founder of HEDx, impacting higher education through a podcast, advisory services, and live events. Michael is…

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Stalin Memorial Museum - Gori, Georgia 🇬🇪

After spending a couple of days in the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia, we continued our road trip throughout this country and drove towards the country’s capital, Tbilisi. We decided to stop for one night in the small city of Gori, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, since it has a memorial museum devoted to him. This museum was initially opened in 1937, during Stalin’s lifetime, in the house where…