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
Someday is Not a Day in the Week: Create More Meaningful Work ... Now Not Someday
By Sam Horn
"The premise of this manifesto is, as my millennial friend Jackie put it, 'What if work didn't have to suck?' What if, instead of accepting a toxic work situation and/or waiting for it to get better, we took personal responsibility to make it better? What if there were ways to make work more meaningful right where we are, right now? The good news is, there are career hacks you can use to create meaningful work so it's more like you want it to be. And you don't have to win the lottery to do it."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
There Are No Strangers Here: A Rising Tribe Lifts All Boats
By Sally Haldorson
"Maybe my story wasn't a big story. I hadn't begun a new company, or invented a new product. I hadn't yet written a book. I didn't have as prominent a voice or as large a platform from which to speak as some of the others. But I did truly believe that my story was emblematic of the cumulative work all feminists have labored under with every act that inches us toward equality, and emblematic of the struggles all professional women face as we labor toward our dreams. I had my life, and I had my work, and I was simultaneously blessed and burdened by the effort to maximize the potential of both."
Categories: changethis, managing-directors-cut
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Blog / ChangeThis
Why You Should Hire a Futurist
By Porchlight
"A quiet revolution is underway. It is as unanticipated and stealth as the internet and social media once were and just as ubiquitous. Every day our knowledge about the future grows more precise, and this is transforming how modern leaders lead. Think about it. A few decades ago we didn't know if a person was predisposed to Alzheimer's, baldness, or lung cancer, when a country's currency was on the verge of collapse, or how close a rogue nation on the other side of the world was to a viable nuclear warhead. We didn't know which automobile parts were likely to fail first, second, and third, or when a hurricane would make landfall, or whether our credit was sufficient to secure a mortgage. But today, we do. We have more data about future outcomes than ever before, and this has armed leaders with a heretofore unprecedented power: the ability to adapt before-the-fact. That's right. Today's successful companies are no longer adapting to changes in the environment, they are changing the environment to which they must adapt.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Relationship Capital Unplugged
By John Hope Bryant
"What if I told you that you had everything you needed in this life for success—except the right Relationship Capital? And that your Relationship Capital starts with what I call Inner Capital. That it starts with you. How you see and feel about yourself. That you ARE capital. Human capital."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Moving Beyond Competing
By W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne
"For us, as business scholars, the world we aspired to help advance wasn't one defined by competing and dividing up markets or the globe, where one's gain comes at the expense of others. Competition exists, and win-lose scenarios abound, but they weren't what captured our imaginations, nor what we believed our world needed more of. What we admired, what inspired us, were the organizations and individuals that went beyond competing to create new frontiers of opportunity, growth, and jobs, where success was not about dividing up an existing, often shrinking pie, but about creating a larger economic pie for all—what we refer to as blue oceans. Blue oceans are less about disruption and more about nondisruptive creation, where one's gain doesn't have to come at the expense of others. But how do you translate aspiration into action, intention into reality?"
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead! The Fall of Homo Economicus and the Rise of Design Thinking
By Jeanne Liedtka
"It is hard to think of a more flawed theory that has had as much of an impact on organizational life as that of the 'rational man' of neoclassical economics: an unfeeling automaton, driven by analytic assessments of economic utility and the pursuit of self-interest. [. . . ] But it's not only economists who retreat to abstraction and analytics for comfort—organizational leaders often have the same inclinations. This creates especially dramatic problems when we are trying to accomplish change—because change is about human beings, first and foremost. The 'messiness' our management approaches so often try to avoid is, essentially, our humanness. In our desire for predictability, control and simplicity, we eliminate consideration of the reality of the human experience. Our behavior reflects our emotions as well as our presumed 'rationality'—we inhabit realities that are subjectively interpreted through our own unique backgrounds and experiences. Ultimately, change requires that a particular set of human beings behave in new ways.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Move from Just Making Money to Making a Difference
By Porchlight
"Think about it, since most of us are knowledge workers, we are likely going to live considerably longer lives. In fact, most of us will have another 30 years or more after the time that the previous generation was retiring and sailing off into the sunset with the gold watch. And, here's the kicker: those extra 30 years could turn out to be the most productive and satisfying years of our lives if we only figure out how to make the transition. We begin the season of halftime with that feeling of smoldering discontent. But if we make the transition successfully into our second half, we emerge with a clear purpose, plan, and focus that will allow us to finish well and live a life of true significance."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Doing Good Work and Doing Good
By Porchlight
"From childhood I have had it drummed into me by my parents, my life experiences, and my own work: You can do good work and you can do good. I've learned that life is not a zero-sum game that requires that we take everything and leave nothing in order to succeed. I subscribe to the concept that through innovation and creativity we can all add to the global pool of resources. In fact, Peter Diamandis authored one of my favorite quotes in Abundance, 'Make more pies.' I strongly believe that in doing so, one can have a positive impact on the world and make a solid profit while doing so."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Art of Inclusion: Why Service Beats Selfies When it Comes to Business
By Cara Alwill Leyba
"Here's the thing about business. It's not about you. Or me. People create businesses to solve problems. To help their clients get from Point A to Point B. Whether that's helping save them from a toxic relationship, assisting them in designing their dream kitchen, or motivating them to lose fifty pounds, businesses exist to serve. And while many entrepreneurs are the face of their business, there's a thin veil between injecting some personality into your work, and completely overriding your services by being self-serving."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Be Number One in Your Field
By Daniel Milstein
"You should have goals so big that you are uncomfortable telling your friends about them. Everybody has a goal and while you can't do everything (some people can't sing or draw or downhill ski) most of your dreams, like finding a job you love and making a living doing it—are realistic goals that you can attain. I believe you can do what you set your mind out to do."
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.