100 books like Iconoclast

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.

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’ve been exploring the natural world most of my life as a gardener, naturalist, student, and researcher. I’ve come to appreciate the essentiality of our dependence on plant and other animal life. But I always want to know more. So I try to read across diverse areas of science as well as history, anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology. I want to know the mind of the thinker, the discoverer of ideas, the developer of technology. I want to understand the process of creativity from the view of the artist or inventor. Thus, I seek first-person accounts of scientists, doctors, inventors, as they struggle to understand the world that fascinates them.

I have worked in scientific research and teaching for over 30 years, and maintained a love of art and music as well, but am saddened when I hear statements, especially from high-school pupils, that ‘there is no room for creativity or imagination in science.’ Like all working scientists, I know that imagination is the most important faculty for a scientist. The Poetry and Music of Science is my project to tease out the creative threads in the scientific process, and also to find the buried pathways that link science with the arts and humanities. The journey of discovery has been full of surprises and delights for me.

As an author, one of my goals is to encourage kids to fall in love with reading–but I’m not an illustrator. I wish I practiced art more as a kid. If I had, maybe I’d be illustrating my own books. If only these five books existed forty years ago, perhaps I wouldn’t have given up on art. So, in addition to falling in love with reading, I’d love to inspire those same kids to keep exploring their artistic sides. I’ve seen how these books invigorate the artistic spirit of creatives and I hope they do the same for you.

The start of my own online teaching business in 2010 felt both liberating and frustrating. I enjoyed working for myself but struggled to make my offers unique, attractive, sustainable, and successful. I had no idea how to make my voice heard in the highly-saturated and fast-growing online teaching industry. Following the advice of famous online business gurus, I lost track of what I wanted my business to accomplish and burned out following every online teaching trend there was. The books I’ve selected helped me align with my own vision and values, inspired me to overcome my limitations and succeed on my own terms.

I began exploring the topic of creativity after my mother’s death in 2010. Mom was an extremely creative woman. The mother of ten children, living in poverty, she was a self-taught artist who managed to beautify her simple home with her art, building a home business selling paintings, woodcarvings, wall hangings, and quilts she created. When I began speaking to groups of women about creativity, I was shocked to discover just how few of them saw themselves as creative. Thus began my odyssey into creativity research and therapeutic art, and the resulting book and workshops that inspire and encourage others to discover their creative self.

I began exploring the topic of creativity after my mother’s death in 2010. Mom was an extremely creative woman. The mother of ten children, living in poverty, she was a self-taught artist who managed to beautify her simple home with her art, building a home business selling paintings, woodcarvings, wall hangings, and quilts she created. When I began speaking to groups of women about creativity, I was shocked to discover just how few of them saw themselves as creative. Thus began my odyssey into creativity research and therapeutic art, and the resulting book and workshops that inspire and encourage others to discover their creative self.