Never Too Late for First Monday

The week is moving fast. It’s already Wednesday. But if you haven’t already done so, check out USA TODAY’s handy First Monday: New in business TV, DVDs, magazines, books. This runs on the first Monday of each month, and it’s a fun and informative feature to look at either in print (where it takes up the entire third page) or online, with the added value of links. I always enjoyed when I got the opportunity to write for this page when I worked at USA TODAY. It provides readers with quick and useful scans of upcoming things that should be on the radar screens of business people. It also deserves an audience beyond the business world. The August 3 page includes the book 1000 CEOs, with “brief biographies, career trajectories and pullouts of each executive’s traits, practices or words of wisdom.” The films featured are the advertising documentary Art & Copy, and Julie and Julia, based on Julie Powell’s hit book Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. It stars Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. One of my favorite features each month is What I Read, in which an executive details what he or she is reading, and a bit about their reading habits. The spotlight here is on E. Kelly Fitzsimmons, CEO of HarQen. Her three favorite books: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Good to Great by Jim Collins and Managing the Professional Service Firm by David Maister. The “5 Questions” this month features Bill Roedy, chairman and CEO of MTV Networks International. His response to what makes his network a good ambassador for American culture abroad: “We have 150 channels in 168 countries and our audience, primarily young people, wants to be connected. Our goal is to be both a medium of cultural exchange and a unifying force by integrating global and local culture.”