ChangeThis
The original idea behind ChangeThis came from Seth Godin, and was built in the summer of 2004 by Amit Gupta, Catherine Hickey, Noah Weiss, Phoebe Espiritu, and Michelle Sriwongtong. In the summer of 2005, ChangeThis was turned over to 800-CEO-READ. In addition to selling and writing about books, they kept ChangeThis up and running as a standalone website for 14 years. In 2019, 800-CEO-READ became Porchlight, and we pulled ChangeThis together with the rest of our editorial content under the website you see now. We remain committed to the high-design quality and independent spirit of the original team that brought ChangeThis into the world.
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Blog / ChangeThis
12 Myths that Lead to a Busy, Unfulfilling Life
By Greg McKeown
"15 years ago, I quit law school to pursue one overarching question: 'Why do capable people fail to breakthrough to the next level?' The answer to the question, to my great surprise, is success. I first noticed the phenomenon while working with executive teams in some of Silicon Valley's most innovative companies. When they were focused on the right few things it led to success. But the success bred options and opportunities which undermined the very focus that led to success in the first place. In other words, I found that success can be a catalyst for failure. If we are not careful, it leads to what Jim Collins described as "the undisciplined pursuit of more." It is true for companies; it is true for people."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Make Your Company Smarter
By Geoffrey James
"The unspoken beliefs that wield the most influence over business behavior are the metaphors that people use to envision the following major aspects of the work experience: What is business all about? What is a corporation all about? What is management all about? What role do employees play? What really motivates people? What is the nature of change? What's the role of technology? What is the essential nature of work? The answers to these questions define a company's corporate culture. So, then, what type of culture allows companies to pursue strategies that work today? What makes a corporate culture smart, given today's business environment? A good way to answer these questions is to compare what the executives inside successful companies believed in the past as opposed to what executives inside successful (i.e. smart) companies believe today. Here's what 'smart' cultures believe ... "
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Magic Triangle of Company and Career Health
By Rich Karlgaard
"While giving speeches about the post-recession recovery, I began to wonder why some companies had blasted out of the recession in fine shape while others had not yet escaped, as if sick or dysfunctional. When a human being is sick or dysfunctional—or just not thriving—the root cause is always found in one of three areas. Picture a triangle. One side is physical health. Another side is emotional. A third side is social. If you are thriving on just two sides but not on a third, your entire health is at risk. Ask an otherwise physically and mentally healthy person who is struggling with social health, going through a traumatic divorce, say. What does robust health look like in a company or career? Can we find a similar triangle that can help us locate the root cause when our companies and careers are underperforming? I believe so. But warning: I will spend most of the time discussing the least appreciated side of the triangle—the soft edge."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Finding Excellence: How to Give and Be Our Best Every Day
By Harry Paul, John Britt
"In the 80's, many began their search for excellence. Over three decades later, the search still continues for many of us and, for others, the search has just begun. We were intrigued by the concept of excellence in both the personal and organizational domains. So, we began on a journey to understand excellence and soon found that a significant barrier exists. Excellence did not have a generally accepted definition. Thus, any further value we could contribute to the understanding of excellence must be predicated on unshakable bedrock and pillars sanctioned by all those in search of excellence. In short, a common working definition of excellence must be derived."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Your Product or Service Is Either Relevant or It's Worthless: Three Things You Need to Do to Make Sure It's Relevant
By Andrea Coville, Paul B. Brown
"Every day, according to best estimates, your customers and the people you would like to be your customers, are bombarded with more than 5,000 messages. There are advertisements—commercials, billboards, pop ups; calls from telemarketers; emails from deposed princes who need your help banking their fortunes; companies promising to enhance this or that; signs on buses and cabs; branding on clothing and in stores... you get the idea. No wonder it is becoming harder and harder to break through the clutter. In an environment where literally thousands of messages are competing for attention, how do you get people to pay attention to your business, message, or offering? Simply put: by being relevant."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Heed Your Call
By David M. Howitt
"You have been invited to heed your call, and now it is up to you to decide where you go from here. You are the result of the choices you make every single day, and what you choose, you become. To choose wisely, be a witness to your thoughts and actions, both positive and negative. Observe each and every one with neutral emotion. Avoid judging or being critical. Just examine your thoughts as they pass through your psyche. Consider the source, then act or don't act on them. How you choose to respond to this call is what will define and shape your future."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Strategic Thinking: A Framework for Individual Executives to Elevate Business
By Rich Horwath
"The inability to effectively navigate strategy challenges can have devastating long-term effects on an organization. ... While it's convenient to blame an organization's failings on external factors such as the economy, decisions about strategy account for failure a whopping 70 percent of the time. Yes, strategy does matter. When poor decisions about strategy are made and an organization goes through a revenue stall, it's been shown that, on average, low performance continues for more than 10 years. Unfortunately, this prolonged period of poor performance can lead to bankruptcy. Research on 750 bankruptcies during a 25-year period showed that the number-one factor behind these bankruptcies was bad strategy. Contrary to popular opinion, the researchers attributed the failures to flaws in the strategies themselves, not to poor execution of the strategies. Therefore, it's important to be skilled at crafting strategy."
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Cultivate Winning Relationships
By Morag Barrett
"Having fun and feeling satisfied with relationships at work are important! For many of us, the hours we spend at work far exceed the time we spend with our families or in social settings. So why not actually enjoy this massive part of our lives? Working respectfully is not a win/lose power struggle. Nor is it 'soft' to have a conversation about how you work together. When you cultivate winning relationships, everyone involved can benefit—especially you."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
How Your Biases Make You Blind
By Faisal Hoque, Drake Baer
"We best empathize with people—be they colleagues or customers—that we have some shared experience with. So if a company is homogenous in form, it will only be able to connect with a homogenous swathe of humans outside the organization—you'll only be able to communicate with people who have the same hand on the elephant as you do. This leads to a lack of understanding of what value the customer wants. That misunderstanding is the seed of disruption, for the gap between the value you think your customers want and the value your customers actually want is precisely the space where a competitor can replace you."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Lead Positive: How to Be a Highly Effective Leader
By Kathryn D. Cramer
"When you 'lead positive,' you offer a compelling vision of the future by reframing problems into possibilities and appealing to a higher sense of purpose, a noble and mighty cause. When you think, speak, and act out of the positive side of the ledger, people feel more hopeful and confident about the future. And if you are able to articulate why your vision is so important to those you serve, people trust and respect who you are, not just your ideas. Then, when you take a stand that requires courage and sacrifice, you can rely on their support and determination as you walk together toward a new positive direction."
Categories: changethis