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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
Change is Hard: A true story of diversity and inclusion.
By Jennifer Brown
"The effort required to manage aspects of our identity, culture, and work styles, and in many cases filter them out of our professional personas to 'fit in,' can take precious energy and focus away from our confidence, our contributions, and our careers. When we can work as fully ourselves, we win, and the business wins."
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Learning to Recognize Your Leadership Gap
By Lolly Daskal
"It's the one problem that even some of the most successful CEOs I've worked with never see coming and have no idea how to resolve. The problem is that one day, suddenly, what once worked so well to propel their rise stops working. And the very same traits that had worked for them actually start working against them. Another stellar career comes to an abrupt end. Another high-flying executive is brought swiftly back down to earth. This is the moment when leaders confront a critical and very uncomfortable question: What if there's a gap in what I think I know?"
Categories: changethis
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The Operational Excellence Manifesto
By Porchlight
"When a company reaches a state of readiness, it attains a situational awareness and command of its capabilities—the ability to see and anticipate opportunities and threats. Along with it comes the ability to react in a meaningful and expeditious manner to any such challenges that may present themselves—keeping in mind this awareness will never be perfect and will need to be perpetually refined. As Mike Tyson famously said, 'Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.' That is to say, even though you are talented, trained, professional, and on the offensive pursuing your plan, the business that is better prepared to identify and engage an unforeseen challenge more quickly than its competition has a strategic and tactical advantage."
Categories: changethis
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Capitalists Arise!
By Peter Georgescu
"For the past four decades, capitalism has been cannibalizing itself. It's going on in plain view and yet no one is talking about it because only a few people recognize what's happening. Those few are either very troubled or very scared. The bull market is setting historical records, and the unemployment rate seems reasonable again, so most casual observers—meaning almost all of the media—think America is back on track and growing. Nothing could be further from the truth."
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Blog / ChangeThis
G.R.I.T.: The Stuff of Leaders and Champions
By Scott Petinga
"Success is rarely, if ever, easily obtained. It rises from the ashes of multiple failures like the proverbial phoenix, having to be fought for, chased and desired above all else. That is particularly true in this day and age when competition is fiercer, criticism is deeper, and expectations are higher. A thousand and one obstacles will be thrown up along your journey, seeking to stop your career and even your very existence. I know because I have failed at most things in my life and was even diagnosed with cancer. I shouldn't be a success, but I learned to apply certain foundational characteristics that I have found to be the 'stuff' of entrepreneurs, leaders, and champions."
Categories: changethis
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Bringing Passion and Evangelism Together in Your Business: The Unquenchable Spirit of Co-Creation
By David Nour
"Do you co-create value with others? Do you understand—deep in your gut—that you cannot succeed in the future by going at it alone? Co-creation means banding together with another organization or person to build something together that you could not have built alone. To do this right, you must intertwine your futures together in a highly significant manner. Taking a step like that requires the heartfelt belief that the two of you are much better off together than you were on your own. This belief must survive obstacles, setbacks, delays, disappointment, and even (gasp) looming failure."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Win by Being Your Own Worst Enemy
By Bryce G. Hoffman
"Many of the business tools we have relied on for decades no longer work in a world where incremental improvement is not enough to stay in business, let alone succeed in it. We need new processes, new methodologies, and new ways of thinking if we are to become one of the disruptors, rather than one of the disrupted. One of the most promising and powerful of these new approaches is red teaming—a system developed by the military and intelligence agencies after 9/11 to help organizations stress-test their strategies, challenge their assumptions, and make better decisions. How? By becoming their own worst enemy."
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Conflict Isn't The Problem. It's The Solution.
By Porchlight
"It's not surprising that when I Google the word 'conflict,' the terms 'resolution,' 'mediation,' 'management,' and 'reduction' pop up. All of these words convey an important message about our association with conflict; that it needs to be managed, reduced, resolved and mediated. The problem with conflict mediation, conflict management, and conflict reduction is that each one positions conflict as the culprit. Whether intended or not, these labels and much of the methods used in the conflict and communication fields reinforce the misconception that if we can remove the conflict, things will be better. When we mediate, manage, or reduce the conflict, we necessarily reduce the energy available for productive problem-solving. When we respect the tension and use that energy to create instead of destroy, the results can be transformative."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Downsides of the Urban Revival: The New Urban Crisis and How We Come to Grips With It
By Richard Florida
"In little more than a decade, the revitalization of our cities and our urban areas that I had predicted was giving rise to rampant gentrification and unaffordability, driving deep wedges between affluent newcomers and struggling longtime residents. What troubled me most of all was the decline of the great middle-class neighborhoods that had formed the backbones of our cities and broader society for most of my life. This was the kind of neighborhood I'd been born into, in Newark, and grown up in, in North Arlington. This was the kind of neighborhood I had hoped the new creative class was bringing back to our cities. But now, these once sturdy middle-class neighborhoods were disappearing right before my eyes. I entered into a period of rethinking and introspection, of personal and intellectual transformation, of which this book is the result. I began to see the back-to-the-city movement as something that conferred a disproportionate share of its benefits on a small group of places and people.
Categories: changethis
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Why NEVER to Give Another Elevator Speech: Surprising Ways to Connect with Anyone, Anytime
By Sam Horn
"Never again give an elevator SPEECH. Never again explain what you do and/or what you're trying to get a YES to. Never again 'Tell people what you're going to tell them.'
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.