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
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."
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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."
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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Escaping Corporate America: Changing Your Career Can Change Your Life
By Porchlight
You can find meaningful work in corporations, but if the company values are too different from your own or if you are stuck in a job that doesn't tap into your talents, it's probably time to escape. Too often, corporate jobs revolve around meetings and bureaucracy and don't offer you enough opportunities to do work that you can truly feel good about. Over time, the stress of staying in a job you hate can lead to burnout, depression, anxiety, ulcers, chronic back pain, high blood pressure, and even serious heart conditions. You may think that this is the price you have to pay for stability. But make no mistake, whatever job stability you think you enjoy is an illusion. Layoffs are standard operating procedure for corporations these days. No career choice is completely stable and risk free anymore. So if you're going to take a risk anyway, shouldn't you at least do it in pursuit of your passion?
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Business Improvisation: The Diving Catch of the Corporate World
By Porchlight
Recall that moment when you where your most creative, aware, and tuned into the world around you. Imagine how valuable it would be to harness that state of mind and apply it at will to your most stressful and challenging business situations. To shine when others collapse or choke. To take a potentially disastrous circumstance and turn it into a diving catch worthy of any sports show highlight reel. Business Improvisation is the process of accessing and applying creativity to a situation in real time. It is the ability to converge composition, creativity and execution to achieve success. [...] This manifesto is about applying the skill of improvisation to performance in the business world. The skills are taught in several other professions such as music, theatre, medicine, military, and EMS. There is also a growing body of research to support the premise. This is your competitive advantage when comes to thinking quickly on their feet.
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Seinfeld on Marketing: 7 Marketing Lessons from the Cast of the Show About Nothing
By Porchlight
All this time we thought Seinfeld was a show about "nothing. " Little did we know that peppered in its nine seasons were hidden, real-world marketing lessons taught from the masters themselves. But, unlike the Soup Nazi's secret soup recipes, these marketing lessons are to be shared freely with everyone. So why did I write this eBook. Anyone who knows me well knows that I watch way too much Seinfeld. So much so that many times during a conversation with someone I'll remark, "Hey, that reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Kramer are. . . " Basically, it's a curse. We'll that's all about to change with this eBook. I have decided to use my Seinfeld powers for the good of marketing-kind. Maybe this will help to quiet the voices in my head (doubtful, but one can hope). Even if you have never watched an episode of Seinfeld in your life (shame on you. ), you can still participate. I'll give you the background of each episode so that you can play along at home. . . . on with the show. .
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Achieving Business Excellence
By Porchlight
"There is no single strategy that will carry your company forever—just ask my buddy Tom Peters, who wrote the fantastic book In Search of Excellence back in 1982, only to watch more than half of the companies he highlighted go out of business! Markets shift, consumer preferences change, new competitors appear, technology advances—and so must you. Even though I can recommend which of today's popular strategies I believe deserve your attention, there is no guarantee that these same strategies will still be as relevant in 20 years. I think they will, but no one can see that far ahead. With all of that said, [these] are the six strategies on which all the great companies I studied were relentlessly focused."
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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.