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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
How Leaders Can Master the Art of Accountability
By Jonathan Raymond
"Every business leader agrees that accountability is an essential ingredient in a healthy organizational culture. Which makes it all the more striking how little training there is out for leaders and managers on how to do it well. Employees are left carrying the bag—working for managers who don't have the relationship skills or emotional confidence to give them direct, early feedback with supportive guidance on how to make the changes the manager wants (but isn't saying). The cost to teams and organizations is high and widespread."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Design IS Business (Why the World Needs Leaders with the Skills of Designers)
By Lisa Kay Solomon, Patrick van der Pijl, Justin Lokitz
"Many people believe that design is a profession for artists and creative types. In actuality, design is all around us—not just the beautiful things—and it's done by all of us, and it affects all of us. It's not just the things that you own or interact with—like your new favorite shirt or smartphone—that are designed. The process by which they came to be exist was also designed. How the original ideas were conceived, the way those ideas were tested, the mechanics of how they were produced, distributed, sold and delivered—influenced by design. All of it. Design is a disciplined approach to discovering, identifying and capturing value. The good news? Design is a teachable discipline—it has its own process, its own tools and its own way of working. It just hasn't been taught to most of us."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Analytical Marketing Will Deliver for Your Customers
By Porchlight
"While moving the revenue needle is still a critical benchmark for many modern marketers, our positions are no longer solely about supporting a sales team with the basics. Naturally, marketing tactics have become more sophisticated, but our roles have really been redefined by the value of one word: data. By collecting and analyzing data, marketers can know if what we're doing makes an impact. We can point directly to why specific offers, emails, or thought leadership works (or doesn't work) for our customers. If your marketing organization is still just sales support, you're getting left behind. Not only are modern, data-driven marketers driving sales, we're monitoring or shaping a customer's experience with our brand."
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Blog / ChangeThis
"Bankers Are 'Only' Motivated By Money" (And Other Ways Organizations Domesticate Us)
By Porchlight
"How do you shift the behaviour of bankers. This was the subject of a conversation. All of the people involved had considerably more experience in financial services than me, so their perspectives were particularly striking. The low point of the conversation happened when one of them said this: 'Bankers are only motivated by money. It is the only way we know how to get people in banking to do things. ' Now, I know some bankers, and count a number of them as friends. Watching them at soccer games and birthday parties, I'm struck by the fact that they're not "only" motivated by money (unless that child with the dirty nappy was slipping them some cash on the side). But this conversation reveals a more vexing problem: Organizations domesticate people. Like Pavlov and his dogs, we are trained to discrete patterns of responses in organizations. It is not flattering, but I would propose it is a reality we don't understand, nor take advantage of: organizations domesticate people to certain ways of working.
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Blog / ChangeThis
Redefining ROI: Investing in your Return On Integrity
By Porchlight
"It has always amazed me how large trees can weather the most intense storms. Their root system provides enduring strength, and it helps them stand strong in the best and worst of circumstances. Our core is like the root system of a tree. Among people, leaders are no different. It is our core that gives us the strength to lead. It enables us to endure the onslaught of daily storms and sustained periods of challenge. A strong core also enables us to manage our ego in the midst of wild success. A strong core holds us tight. If we are without a defined core, we likely hold tight to weak substitutes called attachments. These attachments come in many forms. Sometimes they are rules, policies, or procedures. Other times they are titles, positions, or power itself. For some, attachments are cliquish relationships. Attachments are the fertile ground where sacred cows are born. When we cling to attachments we tend to hold on to everything. Yet embracing your core values allows you to give confidently. There is a great difference between the impact of attachments and the impact of living one's core values; the results couldn't be further apart.
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Blog / ChangeThis
SIMPLY BRILLIANT: 8 Questions to Help You Do Ordinary Things in Extraordinary Ways
By William C. Taylor
The less-noticed story of our time, the huge opportunity for leaders who aim to do something important and build something great, is both simple and subversive: In a time of wrenching disruptions and exhilarating advances, of unrelenting turmoil and unlimited promise, the future is open to everybody.
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Start Up Your Brand: Develop a Minimum Viable Brand
By Denise Lee Yohn
"With a MVB, you expend the least amount of time, effort, and money necessary to develop enough of a launch brand concept to center your organization, convey your value, and to collect learning. As an alternative to a complete strategic brand platform or simply a shell of a brand, a MVB provides you the perfect balance of structure and flexibility."
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Turn Your Dreams into Reality—with the Stroke of a Pen
By Nora Herting, Heather Willems
"Have you ever dreamed of doing something big in your life—like maybe starting your own business. Have you also had trouble pursuing that dream because you didn't know where to start. Rest assured, you're not alone. Some 67 percent of millennials are interested in starting their own business, while about 54 million Americans now consider themselves freelancers. But turning a great idea into something that will actually earn you a living can be intimidating. You kind of know what you want, but maybe you have a hard time explaining it to other people, let alone knowing if someone would be willing to pay you in return for your product or service. If only there were a way to break it down into more manageable chunks—something you could do that would allow your brain to fully activate in coming up with the answers you need. It turns out there is a first step you can take to start to make your big ideas and dreams come true: You can pick up your pen and start drawing. ".
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Make Things Happen When You're Not the CEO
By Thomas Barta, Patrick Barwise
"You're an expert or manager in, say, marketing, IT or distribution. Maybe you're even the head of that function—the CMO, CTO or Distribution Director. You and your team have come up with a great idea that—if executed—will significantly benefit the company. But, like most important proposals, in order to be implemented, it will need the support of several other departments. Without that support, nothing will happen. Here are five ways to achieve it."
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Career Benefits of Writing Without Bullshit
By Josh Bernoff
"Clarity. Boldness. We say that we value these qualities in communication at work. So why is nearly everything we read so full of bullshit? Our inboxes, browsers, and smartphone screens are filled with jargon-laden, meandering drivel. Why can't people get to the point and say what they mean? [...] After 35 years of reading and writing for work, I decided to face this problem head-on: to determine what causes bullshit, and how we can all learn to write without it. The problem is real. And the solution is within reach. It's just a question of committing yourself to writing without bullshit."
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.