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
Alternative Answers: The Class Divide in Investing, and How You Can Close It
By Bob Rice
"Harvard's biggest single financial bet is on timber, not stocks. Yale has just 6% of its endowment in US equities; instead, it's long "absolute return," "private equity," and real assets. Each is up more than100% over the past decade. In the meantime, typical investors have, at best, treaded water. And that's no anomaly. In 7 of the 11 decades since 1900, the classic 60/40, stock/bond portfolio has returned an average real return of a whopping. . . 1%. Yes, those other four decades were big winners; but then those gains were walloped by the kinds of big crashes that are only becoming more frequent. Fact is, a class system has developed among investors over the past few decades. Elite money managers have used a proprietary set of tools to ride economic cycles up, but also to avoid big losses during downturns. Meanwhile, the rest of us all thought that "investing" was synonymous with simply buying stocks and bonds, with maybe a bit of real estate tossed in. [. . . ] Fortunately, times have changed—even if most people still don't know it.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Right or Kind? Navigating the Soft Skills Revolution
By Maxine Kamin
"Do we care about talking to each other anymore, or are we settling for mostly texts, emails, tweets, and electronic quickies? Is this like quickie sex, compared to romantic adventures with all the accoutrements of a love making session? Are we too busy to really connect? What is the draw of fast talk? We often think that quick communication saves time. This is true in some cases. Relying only on cursory communication though runs the risk of misunderstanding, and a lot of hoopla about 'what did she mean by that e-mail?' Once those questions get started, they take on a life of their own and end up as huge time wasters, not time savers, and the intent of the communication may be lost, and so badly misinterpreted that trust goes astray in the translation. Let's regroup and think about the advantages of face-to-face communication, what might get in the way, and types of skills that promote cooperation, even in difficult instances."
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Blog / ChangeThis
The First 20 Hours: Secrets of Rapid Skill Acquisition
By Josh Kaufman
"I'm willing to wager there's something in the back of your mind you've always wanted to learn how to do. [...] I'm also willing to wager you feel you don't have enough time to learn this particular skill. You're overworked already, and time is tight. You have work to do, family to take care of, friends to hang out with, and too many responsibilities as it is. By the time your work and family obligations are satisfied, you're tired: after you eat dinner and watch a little TV, it's time to call it a day. So much to do, and so little time. [...] I have good news for you: picking up new skills is way easier than you think. Believe it or not, you can pick up the fundamentals of any new skill in about 20 hours."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Your Time is Your Life—Invest it Well
By Elizabeth Grace Saunders
"Now is a time of revolution—or perhaps more precisely evolution—in the world of personal productivity. Time management no longer offers sufficient support for people overwhelmed with the onslaught of responsibility and opportunity in today's 24/7 world. The next step: Time Investment. Ironically, the people with the most time and autonomy can end up the most miserable because their relative freedom makes them hold onto the false notion that they can do everything. But the truth is that even if you have copious amounts of time and resources, you still need to make choices. Failing to do so will lead to an unsatisfying lack of depth and closure in your life."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Jazz-Leadership
By Penelope Tobin
"Traditional leadership has long looked like the orchestral conductor. But we're living within a whirlwind of change, and the authoritarian individual, working to a fixed, detailed plan from a detached position of control, isn't equipped to deal with it. To survive these new circumstances, we must all learn how to improvise (from the Latin "improvises", meaning "not seen ahead of time"). [...] We need leadership in a new groove—jazz-leadership."
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Get Employees to Manage Themselves
By Cali Ressler, Jody Thompson
"Employees don't leave companies. They leave managers. 70% of employees don't feel valued by their employers. 64% of Americans leave their jobs due to lack of recognition. This impacts the bottom line because customers feel the effects of employee success and either respond with loyalty, or get turned off by bad service or inferior products. There has to be a better way to improve employee and manager relationships in order to maximize business success. The answer is simple. Manage the work, not the people."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Recharge: 7 Ways to Improve Innovative Thinking
By Debra Kaye
"If companies want to innovate the way successful bold newcomers have, they have to unplug from the constraints of 'That's the way we've always done it' and recharge, starting with the mantra, 'Let's just not do that anymore. ' They need to be willing to take market risks that more traditional companies are often unwilling or unable to take. Consider that Apple doesn't have a formal innovation 'funnel' process with established procedures, nor do Amazon or Facebook. In this volatile world the old model of process innovation needs a new framework. It isn't in sync with the way our minds work, which brain research tells us is more serendipitous than linear. Innovation just doesn't lend itself to being predictable and risk free. Innovation demands looking at the world differently, and finding connections between seemingly disconnected things. Corporate protocol, management hierarchies, and rigid assumptions about customer needs often create anxiety and stifle freedom of thought and exploration. ".
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Blog / ChangeThis
Brains Favor the Ridiculously In Charge Leader
By Henry Cloud Ph.D
"I believe that among all of the things that a leader does, one of the most important ones is to set "boundaries." Basically, a "boundary" is a property line. It defines what will exist on a property and what will not. The property line around your home is like that....it defines where your property begins and ends, and you are in charge of exactly what will happen on that property. And, to our point here, within your business or organization. Leaders must establish some key boundaries in some very key areas if they want to get results. And, thanks to brain research, we now can scientifically get a peek into why the leaders who do establish these kinds of boundaries get the results that they get."
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An Action Plan for Making Good Customer Service a Reality
By Kirk Kazanjian
"Any company can market and promote that they are experts at cuddling customers, but very few ever get the formula for execution right. A big reason is that most organizations never bother to put all of the essential building blocks in place to create a customer-centric culture. They like to talk the talk, but don't walk the walk. They also forget that before your employees will ever take good care of your customers, you have to first take great care of them."
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Art of Adherence
By Lee J. Colan PhD, Julie Davis-Colan
"In business and in life, the game is usually won by those who can consistently execute a well-thought-out strategy. In other words, winners stick with it—they practice adherence. Adherence is the ability to consistently execute. Not coincidentally, the word 'adherence' appears to have originated in the 1500s from the French word 'adherer,' which means 'to stick to.' Adherence is the critical link between strategy (knowing) and results (doing). Therefore, it is the solution to the knowing-doing gap. Winning requires adherence because successful execution of your plan is not a one-time event but rather steady progress over an extended period of time. [...] Achieving adherence is simple but not necessarily easy. It takes skill and creativity to continually nurture focus, competence, and passion with your team. This is why we call it the art of adherence."
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