100 Books Like The Transformation Factor

Following several years of working for the Ohio State University and Marathon Oil, I co-founded and became CEO of Solomon Software, originally named TLB, Inc. (The Lord’s Business) headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. We grew to more than 400 employees and $60 million in revenue, servicing over 40,000 clients worldwide, and then sold our company to Great Plains Software and that combined business was sold to Microsoft six months later. I later established Solomon Cloud Solutions, a technology consulting service firm for Microsoft Independent Software Vendors and Microsoft Business Solutions Channel Partners. Now, I assist businesses and organizations with implementing leadership development systems that will help them grow with a company called LeadFirst.ai.

Following several years of working for the Ohio State University and Marathon Oil, I co-founded and became CEO of Solomon Software, originally named TLB, Inc. (The Lord’s Business) headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. We grew to more than 400 employees and $60 million in revenue, servicing over 40,000 clients worldwide, and then sold our company to Great Plains Software and that combined business was sold to Microsoft six months later. I later established Solomon Cloud Solutions, a technology consulting service firm for Microsoft Independent Software Vendors and Microsoft Business Solutions Channel Partners. Now, I assist businesses and organizations with implementing leadership development systems that will help them grow with a company called LeadFirst.ai.

I have long been passionate about helping people connect with God through their work. After graduating from college, I worked in full-time minister for six years and then became an entrepreneur. Was I dropping off a spiritual cliff by leaving full-time ministry? I later pursued my PhD and became a professor. At the University of Oklahoma, I became a top researcher and co-founded the Center for Entrepreneurship. The impact of work on my faith has long been an important issue for me. I ultimately gained valuable insights from God that enhanced my spiritual journey. In my book, I explain the profound significance of work for knowing God. 

Following several years of working for the Ohio State University and Marathon Oil, I co-founded and became CEO of Solomon Software, originally named TLB, Inc. (The Lord’s Business) headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. We grew to more than 400 employees and $60 million in revenue, servicing over 40,000 clients worldwide, and then sold our company to Great Plains Software and that combined business was sold to Microsoft six months later. I later established Solomon Cloud Solutions, a technology consulting service firm for Microsoft Independent Software Vendors and Microsoft Business Solutions Channel Partners. Now, I assist businesses and organizations with implementing leadership development systems that will help them grow with a company called LeadFirst.ai.

I'm an executive coach, adjunct faculty at several top-tier business schools, and run a boutique firm consulting firm focused on organizational strategy solutions. My diverse and eclectic background in mergers & acquisitions, organization effectiveness, and strategy execution, coupled with two decades of experience in emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, helps me grasp challenging people issues. I'm passionate about the topic of leaders as coaches having written several papers and columns. My research, and writing led Penguin to commission my book Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership that, released globally in late 2021 to much acclaim, is recommended by several academics as an essential read for aspiring and experienced managers. 

I’ve spent many years as a management consultant to a range of big, global corporations, smaller companies, and not-for-profits. I also headed up succession planning and management development at two major companies. I decided to go into this field based on a strong conviction, a conviction that continues today: that leadership counts. Strong leaders benefit people in their organizations and, ultimately, society itself. Having worked with many senior leaders and led organizations myself, I know the range of pressures executives face and how easy it is to fail. Companies need a supply of capable, well-equipped senior leaders, and those who aspire to top-level positions need guideposts about achieving their career aspirations. 

I am an Australian who lives in France, and has worked and lived on three continents, and drawn inspiration for every location. Through this, I have developed a fascination about the way we all think in creatively different ways about the same things. All this cross-referencing has shown me that all responses to the need for change go better with a base of a few things: trust in your own people and those whose businesses support yours, discovery of assets hidden in plain sight, and fun. All these books share these themes. I hope they inspire you to think more creatively and to constantly value the value of values.

Joe Pardavila has produced over ten thousand hours of audio content over the course of his career in podcasting and terrestrial radio. Joe was a radio personality and producer on the legendary New York City radio station, 95.5 PLJ, where he was part of the iconic Scott & Todd in the Morning. He studied sketch and improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade and was a founding member and actor in the New York-based sketch comedy group, Clip Show. He is the codirector, writer, and producer of the award-winning horror satire, The Witches of Bushwick. Currently, he serves as the director of podcasts for Advantage Media Group | Forbes Books.

Being a leader is hard, being a woman in leadership is exponentially harder. I learned this firsthand at 22 during my first management role at one of the big 4 accounting firms. I did it all wrong and I want to help women leaders avoid all the mistake I made. The most important thing I learned is the importance of relationships. What I do now is help people communicate to connect because what I believe is that real relationships lead to real results. And close relationships, personal and professional, just make us happier, and who doesn’t want that?

No one in my family has ever owned a business, so I always believed that the best way forward was to find employment. I followed the "expected path" in life until I obtained my Ph.D. in computer science. However, I always wondered if there was a way for me to "break free" from the corporate world. After reading hundreds of business books and watching countless hours of YouTube videos about creating a business, I finally managed to achieve my goal. I began working as a self-employed freelance developer and gradually moved towards a more scalable education business, which aligns with my purpose of helping people thrive in an exponential world.