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
The Freak Factory: Making Employees Better by Helping Them Get Worse
By David Rendall
"If conventional approaches aren't working, then what should we do? Instead of attacking people's weaknesses, we need to find the strength that is hidden inside their apparently negative characteristics. It is time to stop trying to create well-rounded and balanced employees. We need employees that are unbalanced. We need employees that are freaks. It is time to build a freak factory."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Healthcare Reform: It's Our Debate, Too
By Zane Safrit
"We need our help. Together. Together we can create a healthcare system that could in all honesty earn the title 'Best healthcare in the world.' But right now, our current healthcare system is on life-support. We pay to sustain its life-support, in big ways and in small, with expensive health insurance premiums or expensive emergency room visits, with expensive prescriptions with jack-in-the-box side-effects, with a growing percent of our GDP, with a growing number of personal bankruptcies that result from high costs of catastrophic healthcare, with jobs lost as small business can't afford the health insurance needed to attract the talent to grow and create jobs ... and it's getting worse."
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Be Positive ... When Things Suck
By Kathrien Ahn
"Sometimes life comes up from behind you and kicks you in the ass, which is how it tells you that you're supposed to be moving in an entirely different direction. Maybe you're fighting a losing battle in a relationship or career. Maybe you've neglected your health, and its coming back to haunt you. Whatever it is, we're all born with talents, and some of us have chosen to pursue them and some have preferred to stay in the 'Safe' zone. In tough times, you have to dig deep because all the extraneous layers are stripped away and you're faced with a decision. Go for it or not? It's up to you."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Moving Beyond "Short-termism"
By Bill George
"In the summer of 2008, Lehman Brothers and AIG were renowned power-players and titans of finance. They were innovative, profitable. . . nearly untouchable. Now, they are insolvent. These are just two in a long line of now-clichd Wall Street stories: successful company—under pressure to earn bigger profits faster—succumbs to appeal of short-term gains, makes bad bets, and goes bust. Negligent and cavalier investment strategies created overly-leveraged balance sheets, causing these companies, and many others, to place incredible strain on investors, the financial system, the U. S. government, and American taxpayers. Their collapse was monumental and the aftershocks are continuing; worldwide, no one has been unaffected by the ramifications of this collective short-term profit seeking. Where were the CEOs with plans for the long-term viability of these companies. Where were the board members who were supposed to be minding the store. Where were the shareholders with the knowledge and foresight to shout 'STOP.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Borrowing Brilliance: And Other Oxymorons
By David Kord Murray
"... As I go out into the world and teach people about creative thought, I'm often asked by managers 'how to' apply this in an organization. They want me to talk about 'corporate creativity' and 'innovation management' and at first blush, to me, 'corporate creativity' seems like a [George] Carlinesque oxymoron. It seems like two words that contradict each other, like 'jumbo shrimp,' 'military intelligence' and 'borrowing brilliance.' Corporations are typically highly structured and highly political, and typically NOT very creative. But they don't have to be this way. In fact, once you understand the basic mechanics of creative thinking, the basic block and tackling skills of the thinker, you can turn your organization into a creative factory that churns out innovative concepts through intelligent collaboration and the development of a corporate culture that fosters 'corporate creativity.' Let me explain."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Sustainability, The Complete Concept: Environment, Healthcare, and Economy
By Hunter Lewis
"Most of us would agree that the principal difference between children and real adults is that the latter look ahead, consider consequences, act responsibly and sustainably. Sustainability is not, however, just the essence of maturity. It is also the essence of morality.[...]Whether one looks at our ailing planet, our ever less affordable healthcare, or our failing economy, we see the same underlying problem: a rejection of maturity in favor of a childish refusal to look ahead. What we need instead is a more complete and all-encompassing concept of sustainability."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Decide to Say Sorry: The "Peace Process" for Growing Your Business
By Jeanne Bliss
"How you apologize is your humanity litmus test. Let's face it, at some point; your business will suffer a failure that disappoints customers. How your company reacts, explains, removes the pain, and takes accountability for actions signals how you think about customers, and the collective heart of your organization. Grace and wisdom guide decisions of beloved companies toward accepting responsibility and resolving the situation when the chips are down—not accusations and skirting accountability. Repairing the emotional connections well is a hallmark of companies we love. It makes us love them even more."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Self-Promotion for Introverts: Get Heard More. Even If You Talk Less.
By Nancy Ancowitz
"Introverts. The world needs us, can't live without us, and often doesn't quite get us. However, we persist, mostly behind the scenes, quietly contributing to society—writing, creating, designing, researching, solving problems, and digging for treasures ancient and new. Are you one of us? If you're more of a Warren Buffett than a Donald Trump, and more of a Greta Garbo than a Madonna, you've come to the right place. It's time for you to stop hiding from the spotlight. Time to get recognized and compensated for your gifts. Rather than buying in to the common misconceptions about introverts, you'll apply your quiet strengths to raise your visibility in a way that feels right for you. And guess what? You don't have to brag. Not even remotely. You can promote yourself authentically without the 'ick' factor."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Fierce Leadership: A Bold Alternative to the Worst "Best" Practices of Business Today
By Susan Scott
"There is a bold, compelling line between leadership and 'fierce' leadership. Wherever you are in the world, I hope you'll join the thousands of leaders who are crossing the line. Fierce Leadership [feers lee-der-ship] noun 1. A fast-acting anti-venom to the business-as-usual mode of high task/low relationship, self-serving agendas, directing and telling, anonymous feedback, holding people accountable, excessive use of jargon and mandating initiatives that cause people to weep on too many fine days. 2. The act of acquiring your most valuable currency—emotional capital. 3. Also signals the acquisition of squid eye (more on this later) and the demise of truth-telling squeamishness and ethical squishiness."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Breaking Organizational Codependence: Downsizing's Liberating Wake-Up Call
By David Noer
"I'm told there is an ancient Chinese curse that translates into 'May you live in interesting times. ' That it is a curse certainly rings true as we experience today's global pandemic of downsizing. Layoff victims and survivors alike react to this new reality with a toxic stew of debilitating emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety and depression—what I call layoff survivor sickness. We can change that though. We can reframe the death toll of the old paradigm into a wake-up call that will help us create an exciting world of work that is more autonomous, personally relevant, and more in congruence with our unique gifts. We first need to understand the nature of the change and the insidious power of organizational codependency. Then we need the courage to break its stifling grip on our human spirit and creativity. Part of our 'interesting times' involves living through the most fundamental change in the psychological contract that has connected employee to employer since the industrial revolution.
Categories: changethis