Braun Collection Launches BizBios®

December 10, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Laura Sheridan
EMAIL: laura@vivalabrand.com

Cleveland, OH – December 10, 2019 – The premier business biographers at Braun Ink launched BizBios artistic flash cards for business enthusiasts – each packet of cards features art, education and entertainment. BizBios cards succinctly tell the stories of iconic business leaders who are “first, best, biggest, or most” in global business. The cards feature executives of all backgrounds, ages and geographies, who run companies with revenues over $3 billion.

Each BizBio has 6 custom icons and 50 carefully considered words. BizBio card packs are available printed or digitally in sets of 25 or 50.

“We created BizBios to provide business enthusiasts with a fast and fun way to learn about the legacies of business icons. You can do a lot with these cards – get up to speed on a cross section of CEOs, use them as conversation starters, appreciate the art of the custom icons, and notice similarities and differences among executives.” Rebecca Braun, president of Braun Ink, said.

A team of researchers, illustrators, designers, writers, and editors created the popular BizBios. For instance, one illustrator hails from Norwich, UK, and is a DJ whose art has been featured in the New York Times; some researchers are work study students and an Ohio business journalist reinventing her career (considering the decline of daily newspapers); and an editor is a leading celebrity ghostwriter. The cross-section of contributors to the cards, and of CEOs covered, leads to attractive, quirky, unique cards.

Braun said, “The inspiration for BizBios is a combination of Mad Magazine emoji biographies; Asian art; Korean epitaphs; and Wall Street Journal Hedcut images.”

BizBios are part of the Braun Collection, business leaders’ action-packed stories offered in a variety of formats.

About the Braun Collection

Developed for business professors, teachers and students, the Braun Collection consists of business leaders’ action-packed stories offered in several formats. This customized approach allows leadership training professionals, professors and other instructors to pick the formats that work best for their students. Immersive and experiential, the entertaining memoirs and biographies come with teaching notes and represent a contemporary alternative to the single-format business case study.

The Braun Collection includes books with short, action-packed chapters; comic books for visual engagement; presentations; chapter summaries; study guides; video visits with author-executives, and BizBios.

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Using Comic Books in the Classroom

When using a comic book, business educators have the opportunity to develop these business competencies in students. Such competencies are in high demand in the business workplace.

Ask students to:

  • SUMMARIZE and SYNTHESIZE the actions, images, people, and topics.
  • DEVELOP ARGUMENTS about and CRITICALLY APPRAISE key actions and decisions made by executives.
  • OFFER SUPPORT for their arguments using text and facts.
  • REFLECT ON how the comic book characters’ views and actions compare and contrast to their own.
  • SHOW CURIOSITY about business leaders through asking questions of the main subject/CEO, if the LIVE VIDEO VISIT option is chosen by educators.

Using CEO Memoirs & Biographies in the Classroom

Memoirs and biographies combine the case method with more immersive and experiential learning because readers are immersed in the story and narrative. Narratives are arguably the most effective way to teach and learn in general. Studies have shown that students consistently recall information tied to storytelling better than material presented without storytelling. Organizational psychologists have found that learning from a well-told story is remembered “far longer” than learning derived from facts and figures and that facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they’re part of a story.

Braun Collection books and comic books enable business educators to use narrative to enhance the learning experience of their students. Further, it seems that people who read narratives that “oscillate” (i.e., the narratives do not offer a story of clear ascent or descent but rather a story of oscillating successes and failures) have better resilience later in their own lives and careers when making their own decisions. This is because they have reference points (the prior narratives) that consist of patterns of oscillation as opposed to clear-cut ascent or descent2. As we know in real life, decisions rarely involve clear-cut ascent or descent situations. Braun Collection materials do  show neither deeply flawed heroes nor perfect decision makers, rather people who deal with the ups and downs of the issues and
opportunities in their lives and careers.

When using a True Business Adventure Tale (CEO memoir or biography), business educators have the opportunity to develop these business competencies in students. Such competencies are in high demand in the business workplace.

Ask students to:

  • SUMMARIZE the actions, people, and topics and SYNTHESIZE all the information into the theme of the book. Synthesizing key topics and themes is important in business.
  • DEVELOP ARGUMENTS about and CRITICALLY APPRAISE key actions and decisions made by executives. Being able to develop and appraise various actions is important in business.
  • OFFER SUPPORT for their arguments using text and facts as opposed to pure opinion and conjecture. Knowing how to offer factual, even if not scientific, evidence is important in business.
  • REFLECT ON how the subjects and authors views and actions compare and contrast to their own. A level of appropriate reflection is shown to build a level of warmth and relationships that matter for business.
  • SHOW CURIOSITY about business leaders through asking questions of the authors, if the LIVE VIDEO VISIT option is chosen by educators. Asking good questions is a vital business skill.