Iron Dog LLC — Published Works
Books that change
how you lead,
learn, and think.
Eight titles spanning academic leadership, AI-era strategy, faculty development, and cybersecurity — written for practitioners, not theorists.
The Teaching Assistant Key: Scalable Instructional Support for Student Engagement and Faculty Alignment
Teaching assistants are often the hidden engine of higher education. They lead discussions, grade complex assignments, mentor students, manage classroom dynamics, and serve as the bridge between faculty and learners. Yet most receive little formal preparation for the role.
This book changes that.
The Teaching Assistant Key is a practical, field-tested guide designed to equip graduate students and new teaching assistants with the tools, confidence, and professional standards needed to thrive in academic environments. Whether you are leading your first discussion section or supporting a large lecture course, this guide provides clear structure and actionable strategies.
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The Master Key: A Faculty Guide to Unlocking Student Success in Doctoral Research
Doctoral education is demanding. It should not be dysfunctional.
Too often, dissertation supervision relies on inherited habits-delayed feedback, shifting expectations, unclear standards, and unexamined power dynamics. The result is not stronger scholarship. It is confusion, attrition, and unnecessary strain for both students and faculty.
The Master Key offers a different model.
This book is a practical and principled guide for dissertation chairs, doctoral faculty, and academic leaders who want to elevate the standard of doctoral mentorship. It moves beyond generic advice and provides a structured leadership framework grounded in seven core competencies, including ethical calibration, structural alignment, argumentation coaching, institutional fluency, AI-era judgment, and performance intervention leadership.
The Faculty Keystone: New Professor's Success Strategies
The Faculty Keystone: New Professor's Success Strategies is a comprehensive, field-tested guide for faculty transitioning into higher education from industry, professional practice, or research-intensive backgrounds. Unlike books that focus narrowly on lesson planning or learning management systems, this work addresses the full reality of modern faculty life-teaching, assessment, governance, technology, student engagement, and professional sustainability.
The Faculty Keystone functions as an operational handbook for higher education faculty, bridging pedagogy, psychology, and institutional practice. It equips new and early-career professors with the mindset, tools, and strategic clarity required to succeed in today's complex academic environments.
What sets The Faculty Keystone apart is its integration of educational psychology, emotional intelligence, and faculty identity development-including reflective frameworks rarely addressed in traditional teaching manuals. This book recognizes effective teaching is not just technical work; it is relational, institutional, and deeply human.
Burn the Script 2: The AI Reckoning
You've Already Burned the Script. Now Burn the Matrix.
In Burn the Script, Dr. Dave Schippers told you to stop performing leadership and start living it. Many of you did. You got honest. You confronted the hollow rituals. You dropped the mask. But burning the script wasn't enough.
Because beneath the script was something deeper: a Matrix-the invisible web of assumptions, inherited frameworks, and outdated mental models that AI is now exposing in real time.
This is not a book about using AI. This is a book about becoming someone new inside its presence.
Collaborating with his own digital twin, Schippers doesn't just theorize about AI-human collaboration-he lives it. Together, human and machine confront:
-The cognitive dissonance paralyzing the C-suite
-The legacy knowledge hoarders sabotaging transformation
-The ethics we never embedded-again
-The psychological shadow work required to lead in a cognitively converged world
Burn the Script: Kill the Leadership Theater, Lead for Real
Forget the sanitized leadership playbooks. Burn the Script: Kill the Leadership Theater, Lead for Real is an unapologetic deep dive into 35 years of hard-won management and leadership lessons from Dr. Dave Schippers-lessons forged in real boardrooms, IT data centers, crisis situations, and moments when failure wasn't an option.
With raw honesty and no sugar-coating, Dr. Schippers shares the decisions that kept teams alive in high-pressure environments, the moves that saved organizations from collapse, and the times he learned more from mistakes than from victories. Each chapter pulls back the curtain on the messy reality of leadership-navigating office politics, managing conflicting agendas, motivating people who've stopped caring, and steering through change when everyone else is clinging to the old way.
You won't find vague theory here. You'll find field-tested strategies, memorable real-world stories, and a leadership philosophy built on clarity, courage, and authenticity.
The Force of Technology Second Edition
In an age defined by rapid technological advancements, "The Force of Technology: Second Edition" emerges as a cornerstone for understanding the intricate web of innovation, risk, and cybersecurity. This comprehensive textbook, authored by distinguished experts Dr. Dave Schippers and Dr. Michael Simko, is a testament to the confluence of deep research and practical insights into navigating today's complex technological landscapes.
The book goes beyond traditional theoretical discourse, diving into critical real-world scenarios and actionable strategies. It serves as an indispensable resource for leaders, professionals, and enthusiasts alike, eager to harness the transformative potential of technology while safeguarding against its inherent challenges.
Whether you are a business leader steering your company through digital transformation, a cybersecurity expert fortifying digital defenses, or a technology enthusiast passionate about the intersection of technology and strategy, "The Force of Technology: Second Edition" offers something for everyone.
The Scholar's Key: Hidden Knowledge for Doctoral Achievement
The Scholar's Key: Hidden Knowledge for Doctoral Achievement revolutionizes the way doctoral education is approached, transforming what is often an overwhelming and ambiguous process into a structured and empowering journey. Authored by Dr. David Schippers, Sc.D., CISSP, this book is a testament to his innovative leadership at Walsh College, where he expanded the #1 ranked Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program by Forbes.com, doubled the size of doctoral programs, and introduced diverse, cutting-edge PhD tracks in organizational leadership, data analytics, cybersecurity, and AIML.
Drawing on his extensive experience as an academic leader and researcher, Dr. Schippers provides a comprehensive, practical guide designed to dismantle the inefficiencies and barriers traditionally associated with doctoral studies. His approach combines research excellence, cutting-edge technology, and actionable strategies to empower candidates at every stage of their journey.