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
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."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Turning Points: The Key to Success and Accomplishment in Life
By Bernie Swain
"In less than a decade, the company I co-founded and built, the Washington Speakers Bureau, became the world's biggest player in that business—and remains so now, more than 30 years after I took the sharp turn that reshaped my life. We have represented world leaders—including Presidents Reagan and both Bushes and four Prime Ministers of Great Britain—as well as business visionaries, sports legends, and leading journalists and authors. Over the course of the years, I have gotten close to many of my clients. And yes, they are a spectacularly accomplished group. But the secret sauce that is responsible for so much of their success isn't their talent per se. Instead, it is how they have dealt with the key turning points in their lives."
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Blog / ChangeThis
It's Your Turn
By Porchlight
"Diversity is not currently the norm on most corporate boards, though all the evidence says that the trend is moving in the right direction, however slowly. Along with the regulatory climate, there has been a seismic societal shift. Women are cracking the glass ceiling at an increasing rate, and we even have our first female Presidential candidate. New research says that having women on boards changes the way decisions are made, and it changes it for the better. Women should be on boards, and they are needed there. That pressure is also opening previously closed doors to allow more women on boards."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Hollywood's 'Moneyball' Moment: Why Entertainment Leaders Need Big Data Now
By Michael D. Smith, Rahul Telang
"For nearly a century, industry executives have relied on the same script: use industry experience and gut feel to pick the right products; sell these products to customers in a series of staggered release windows; and hope to win by creating blockbusters. For movies, this meant first selling high-priced tickets for single viewings of films in the theaters; then selling DVDs three months later that could be watched repeatedly at home; and then, six months to two years after that, licensing films to cable TV, where they could seemingly be watched for free. This method of selling content wasn't arbitrary. In an analog world it represented the most profitable way of make money from consumers who placed very different values on the movie. [. . . ] In recent years, however, a perfect storm of technological change has hit the entertainment industries. It involves the convergence of user-generated content, long-tail markets, and digital piracy, and it has diminished the profitability of the industries' traditional business model.
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Blog / ChangeThis
Why a Business Education? A Business School Dean's Manifesto
By Porchlight
"Why a business education? Why do students enter into business school, and what are their expectations? [...] I was surprised and pleased to see in the very first survey that the number one reason why students choose a business school education was that they wanted to make a difference in the world. 83% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with making a difference as a reason for entering business school. The "make a difference" response even beat out "I want to make a lot of money" (76%). Now we have something to work with—students who want to learn the skills and knowledge that will help them change our world. Wow."
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.