Turquoise Eyes: A Novel About Problem Solving & Critical Thinking

By: Kris Safarova

Narrated by: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading

Turquoise Eyes combines compelling narrative while teaching problem solving and critical thinking skills. Set after a bank begins implementing a new retail banking strategy, we follow Teresa García Ramírez de Arroyo, a director general in the Mexican government, who has received some disturbing news.

A whistleblower has emailed Teresa with troubling news about a mistake in the loan default calculations and reserve ratios. The numbers do not add up.

The audiobook loosely uses the logic and financial analyses in a typical Mckinsey engagement: www.strategytraining.com/market-entry-strategy-program.

Our business audiobooks are different.

Most people learn business because they are forced to, for their careers or to earn a larger salary. Most business books are, consequently, boring and dense. They have little incentive to be interesting because they have a captive market. Many avoid a business career because the books are presented as a hurdle to be overcome. We wondered what would happen if we made business audiobooks interesting, so people chose to listen to them? Would we draw more people into business? Would we generate more enthusiasm and excitement for business at a younger age?

This audiobook teaches advanced business concepts through a compelling storyline. This new genre of our audiobooks is written not only for people already interested in business but also for people who may not realize they have an interest or talent for business. Clients always request gift ideas for their children, spouses, friends, and families to get them interested in business and critical thinking. In part, this is our response to those requests.

We want you to learn advanced critical thinking without realizing you are learning. We hope you will enjoy it, too.

We believe the more people who find business interesting and choose to learn business, the better it is for everyone. Businesses will have a larger pool of employees from whom to select and more of the right people will be choosing the discipline to improve humanity versus simply to make more money.

Imagine the advantage your children will have if they learned critical thinking in high school, or even before high school? Imagine if you had that advantage? Imagine if you had learned strategy alongside science and math in high school? The possibilities would be endless. It all starts with the right books. And it’s never too late to start.

If learning is engaging, it will stop being a chore.

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White-collar X Crash X Ray Dalio

Essentially, this is a riveting novel about thoughtful, white-collar crime, which uses the popular crime scene investigation approach to provide a stage for showcasing the somewhat magical powers of critical reasoning skills toward large, complex business problems. In some ways, it reminded me of the USA cable channel's White Collar show crossed with the movie about interesting lives, Crash, crossed with discussions by Ray Dalio of how banking works. For those who have read or listened to other works from this publisher, the formatting will follow a structure timeline approach, including the identification of place and persons involved at each step in the story's progression. The author continues to string along the reader in ways that do not feel overly unfair as the reader generates their own hypotheses and is provided with new information at each point. While there are definitely chapters and characters of greater strength (notably in writing and dialogue) throughout; overall, the book has a balanced pacing and meaningful dilemmas addressed. I grabbed the publisher's other fiction novel and hope it improves on what seems to be a strong start. Also, for those wondering, I would rate this as PG-13.

There are points in the dialogue which forcibly name ideas and concepts related to business analysis. However, the story is compelling enough that such moments are unnecessary. The author can have the characters do the thing without announcing it. I understand the publisher's mission, and I still believe this to be true. Also, I've spoken with Barbara, and it's pronounced "meese." I hope our community can rectify this peccadillo in the long-run.