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ChangeThis
ChangeThis is our weekly series of essays from today's thought leaders that are meant to evoke conversation by bringing forth new and unique ideas.
ChangeThis
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Blog / ChangeThis
14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas
By Mitch Ditkoff
"There's a lot of talk these days—especially in business circles—about the importance of innovation. All CEOs worth their low salt lunch want it. And they want it, of course, now. Innovation, they reason, is the competitive edge. What sparks innovation? People. What sparks people? Inspired ideas that meet a need—whether expressed or unexpressed—ideas with enough mojo to rally sustained support. Is there anything a person can do—beyond caffeine, corporate pep talks, or astrology readings—to quicken the appearance of breakthrough ideas? Yes, there is. And it begins with the awareness of where ideas come from in the first place."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
People Don't Hate Change, They Hate How You're Trying to Change Them
By Porchlight
According to a summary of over 40 research studies on change, the success rate of strategy execution and corporate change programs is 33%. At the same time, a Conference Board survey of over 600 global CEOs revealed that the top two challenges they see are: 1) generating consistent revenue growth and 2) strategy execution. This translates to weak performance on the top executive priority, a situation that needs to change. [...] Because so many of these programs fail, some executives and managers start to believe the old saying that "people hate change" must be true. That is not true. In fact, employment surveys reveal that the top reason good employees leave companies is over a lack of new opportunities and boredom with stagnant, never-changing, dead-end jobs. People don't hate change; they hate corporate change programs. How can we fix that?
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Tell the Whole Truth
By Porchlight
"How can you tap the transformational power of the truth? How can you use it to turn ordinary relationships into extraordinary ones? The answer is to grasp the truth in its fullest sense, and then practice using it skillfully, with discretion and wisdom. [...] Before developing our truth telling skills, we must first explore why we lie. Understanding the causes of our temptations will help us overcome them."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Chindia Rising: Why the Rise of China and India is Inevitable
By Jagdish N. Sheth
"Rudyard Kipling, who proclaimed that 'East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet' has already been proven wrong with respect to Westernization of heritage-rich and tradition-based China and India. He will be proven wrong again as we witness what I refer to as the Easternization of the world. [...] In short, it will be less a clash of cultures and more a fusion of cultures across arts, architecture, science, law, engineering, medicine and management traditions and perspectives. [...] The rise of Chindia is not only inevitable, but it will be beneficial to the world economy. It will be, of course, beneficial to businesses and entrepreneurs, but also to the masses at the bottom of the pyramid (people who earn less than two dollars a day)."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Design Funnel: A Manifesto for Meaningful Design
By Porchlight
"Are you a professional designer? Would you like a process to create more consistently creative work which distinguishes itself from the work of your peers? Would you like a process which would help translate the often vague, unclear wishes of your clients (and yourself, for that matter) into a clear and solid basis for your design? This manifesto will show you how."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Success-Driven Philosophy: Finding Clarity of Purpose and Achieving Arete Through Philosophical Examination
By Porchlight
"This manifesto will facilitate your philosophical examination as you iron out what you believe and why you believe it. We do this by providing a philosophical toolkit, as well as a framework for considering the principal areas of philosophy. Ancient Greek philosophers had a concept they called 'arete'. It is often translated as 'excellence' or 'virtue', but Brian Johnson of ThinkArete says it's better defined as 'constantly striving to reach your highest potential.' This manifesto will bring you closer to arete."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Globalization Becomes Truly Global: Lessons Learned at Lenovo
By Porchlight
"Lenovo, one of the world's largest manufacturers of personal computers, is a prime example of [an] 'emerging-market' multinational ... With its 2005 acquisition of IBM's personal computer division, it is arguably the first multinational with its roots in an emerging market to reverse the traditional direction of globalization. Over two decades, the company has developed a unique global structure and business strategy that has its products, people, and facilities in 160 countries. Here are four lessons that we've learned along the way that can help other global companies—and those with global ambitions—derive economic and social value from globalization."
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Invisible Badge: Moving Past Conspicuous Consumption
By Rob Walker
Thorstein Veblen introduced the idea of "conspicuous consumption" in The Theory of the Leisure Class, in 1899. And it's still being recycled today. Veblen gave examples like the man who parades down Main Street in "stainless" linen, with a superfluous walking stick. These objects supposedly told a story—"evidence of leisure"— to an audience of strangers. Today's consumer is supposed to be a little more sophisticated than that. So it's puzzling how many marketers still talk about how a certain beer or sneaker or handbag functions as a so-called "badge. " Even hybrid cars are said to be eco-status markers that show "conspicuous concern" about the environment. More scholarly observers call this "signaling. " But in the end it's all repackaged Veblen: The idea is that we buy stuff mostly to impress other people. Perhaps this was true in the past. But the time has come to retire the conspicuous consumption idea. Observers of consumer culture (marketers, to name an example) need to understand that as a concept, it's inadequate.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track
By Porchlight
Education should be a lifelong enterprise, a process enhanced by an environment that supports to the greatest extent possible the attempt of people to "find themselves" throughout their lives. For too long, we have educated people for a world that no longer exists, extinguishing their creativity and instilling values antithetical to those of a free, 21st century democracy. The principal objective of education as currently provided is to ensure the maintenance and preservation of the status quo—to produce members of society who will not want to challenge any fundamental aspects of the way things are. Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. It incorrectly assumes that for every ounce of teaching, there is an ounce of learning by those who are taught. Being taught is, to a very large extent, boring and much of its content is seen as irrelevant. It is the teacher, not the student, who learns most in a traditional classroom.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Career Employee Bill of Rights
By Milo Sindell
In the past, an employee's relationship with their job was about work life boundaries. Today and in the future, work is and will be an integral expression of who you are. More than ever before, people need resources that will give them a framework to organize their ideas, sources of motivation, skills, and tools and sources of motivation to take control of their job and discover what's in it for them. Enter the Career Employee Bill of Rights. These are not the rights afforded to you by the law. These are your eight inalienable rights, and unfortunately, no one has made it clear that you have these rights. Now it's your time and turn to discover what each of these mean to you and take action to make these rights yours. Then, live them every day of your working life and professional career.
Categories: 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.