Former CFO Publishes Novels to Tell the Story of Responsible Business Leadership
Nick Shepherd, an Ontario, Can.--based former CFO, spent almost his entire career in finance before publishing the books Understanding and Reporting Human Capital and the Cost of Poor Culture, among others. He has now published two novels that tell through a fictionalized story of how “CEOs can reposition their organizations in a holistic way to revitalize the behaviors needed for creativity and innovation – the very drivers of strategic success. CEO’s, board members and leaders concerned about calls for renewed capitalism, responsible business, and other changes to the way we do business will benefit from following Steve’s own personal journey of trials, tribulations, successes and learning events as he repositions his business for success.”
Explains the author, the two books, No Fun at Great Toys, and Fun Returns to Great Toys tell the story of Steve who is appointed CEO of their family business, after his brother dies unexpectedly. Steve finds a demotivated and demoralized organization that has been depleted of its innovation and creativity through several years of cost-cutting. The stories tell of Steve’s efforts to understand the problems and rebuild the business into a successful, vibrant, enthusiastic, and responsible business, that returns to growth and profitability.
Shepherd says he wrote the books because “Business has access to literally millions of how to books written by experts in every subject imaginable. There are also legions of management consultants available who will offer solutions to any type of business problem. The challenge is that for many issues there is no silver bullet, no turnkey, broad-base fits-all approach. Educational programs such as MBAs have realized this for many years and used case studies as a holistic approach of putting business problems into a context that reflects reality.”
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