Books

Publications – Get to know my work

Published in 2023

“Winning With Data Science”

Whether you are a newly minted MBA or a project manager at a Fortune 500 company, data science will play a major role in your career. Knowing how to communicate effectively with data scientists in order to obtain maximum value from their expertise is essential. 

This book is a compelling and comprehensive guide to data science, emphasizing its real-world business applications and focusing on how to collaborate productively with data science teams.

Taking an engaging narrative approach, Winning with Data Science covers the fundamental concepts without getting bogged down in complex equations or programming languages. It provides clear explanations of key terms, tools, and techniques, illustrated through practical examples. The book follows the stories of Kamala and Steve, two professionals who need to collaborate with data science teams to achieve their business goals. 

Howard Steven Friedman and Akshay Swaminathan walk readers through each step of managing a data science project, from understanding the different roles on a data science team to identifying the right software. They equip readers with critical questions to ask data analysts, statisticians, data scientists, and other technical experts to avoid wasting time and money. 

Winning with Data Science is a must-read for anyone who works with data science teams or is interested in the practical side of the subject.

Available now

Published in May 2020

Ultimate Price

What are you worth, and to what ends? Individuals, families, and systems place a price on human life every day with the decisions they make. These human price tags combine both economic and social values, the wallet and the heart; from insurance payouts to carceral sentencing, we see discrepancies in the value of some human lives over others. 

The calculations that underlie these price tags and the dramatic ramifications they have on our lives are often buried in technical language. 

These price tags are sometimes unfair, yet they influence our economy, our laws and policies. In Ultimate Price, Howard Steven Friedman explains in simple terms how economists, corporations, regulators, and insurance companies make and use these price tags and illustrates how chauvinistic, white supremacist, or elitist values are reflected in them. 

He shows a multitude of ways people’s lives are being valued, explains the methods involved, and then forcefully argues against the rampant unfairness in the system. Readers will be enlightened, shocked, and angered by the details of how these critical calculations work, as well as by the issues and implications hidden inside these impersonal equations that affect us all.

Available now

The Measure of a nation

How to Regain America’s Competitive Edge and Boost Our Global Standing

If America were a corporation, how would an independent analyst judge its ability to compete against other corporate giants? According to the author, that hypothetical analyst would label America a corporate dinosaur and recommend that the nation either change or face extinction. This book focuses on how to improve America by first comparing its performance with thirteen competitive industrial nations, then identifying the best practices found throughout the world that can be adopted here in the United States. 

The author lays out some disturbing facts about America’s lack of competitiveness in five key areas: health, education, safety, equality, and even democracy. Taking the approach that “data doesn’t lie,” the author notes alarming statistics, for example:-Americans have the lowest life expectancy among all competitor nations.-Americans are at least two times more likely to be murdered and four times more likely to be incarcerated than any other competitor country, including Japan, France, and the United Kingdom.-America shows the sharpest disparity between rich and poor among all nations on its competitor list. 

Using charts that clearly illustrate the unbiased, party-neutral data, the author uncovers the major problem areas that the nation must address to become a leader again. Homing in on best practices from other countries than can be adapted to the United States, the author plots a course to transform America from a corporate behemoth burdened by internal issues and poor performance to a thriving business with an exciting portfolio of solutions.

Angels and Stardust

 

A Modest Proposal for America