Blog
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Blog / Staff Picks
Infographics
Book Review by Porchlight
My 3-year-old daughter will only tolerate a certain ratio of words to pictures. Generally the pictures win the war for her attention. Looking at the popularity and apparent effectiveness of infographics, adults actually like pictures too (I certainly do).
Categories: staff-picks
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Blog / News & Opinion
ChangeThis: Issue 98
By Porchlight
How to Tell a Story: 10 Simple Strategies by Jonah Sachs “Maybe it’s because we’re all so overloaded with information. Maybe it’s because we’re all so starved for meaning. Or maybe it’s because, thanks to social media, everyone’s become a broadcaster these days.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / Staff Picks
500 Days, Eleven Years Later
Book Review by Porchlight
It's the morning after 9/11, eleven years later. As I sat down to write this post yesterday, I began typing up a description of four commercial airplanes hijacked by religious zealots and flown into the heart of the American establishment: two hitting a set of twin towers in the middle of the country's financial district, which when built were the tallest on Earth; another crashing into a five-sided office building—still the largest on Earth by sheer floor area—that housed the nerve center of the mightiest military the world has ever known; and one that was brought down in a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania before it could reach it's final target, believed to be either the White House or the U. S.
Categories: staff-picks
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Blog / ChangeThis
How "Helpful" Systems Extinguish Career Development (and What You Can Do to Reignite It)
By Beverly Kaye, Julie Winkle Giulioni
"Career development appears at the top of many lists. Unfortunately, the lists tend to be those focused on what employees desperately want but are not getting from their managers. As for managers, most appreciate the value of career development and really wish they could do it—more frequently and more effectively than they currently do. But let's face it: a manager's day-to-day reality is a kaleidoscopic blur of meetings, responsibilities, and shifting priorities. Helping employees to develop and grow is one of many activities perpetually pushed out in time to that elusive 'someday' that too rarely comes. How can managers get past this conundrum? How can they make career development happen within the pressure-cooker reality that is business today? The answer is definitely NOT new systems, checklists, processes, or forms. Those have actually contributed to the problem."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
El Sistema Comes to the USA: Playing the Mambo and Other Transformations
By Porchlight
"I know it sounds impossible, but El Sistema is for real. El Sistema's founder, the visionary musician and economist Jose Antonio Abreu, has said, "If you put a violin in a child's hands, that child will never hold a gun." It is a profound idea: to use an orchestra as a means of personal growth for children in impoverished environments—which in turn brings transformation to the community as a whole. Yes, a very big idea. And now this idea is spreading around the world. Every month, it seems, we hear about another nucleo starting up in another country."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
How to Tell a Story: 10 Simple Strategies
By Jonah Sachs
"We live in a world that has lost its connection to its traditional myths, and we are now trying to find new ones—we're people, and that's what people without myths do. These myths will shape our future, how we live, what we do, and what we buy. They will touch all of us But not all of us get to write them. Those who do have tremendous power. And where there is power, there is struggle for it. That's why, just below the surface, just beyond what the uninitiated can see, there are wars going on. The soldiers at are Tea Party demonstrators and champions of "the 99 percent," climate change activists, makers of computers and sneaker brands. They seem to be fighting over ideas and dollars, but they are really fighting for control of our stories."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Taking Higher Education Higher: How to Cut College Costs and Increase Degree Value
By Porchlight
"With college costs rising, student loan debt skyrocketing and average starting salaries falling, the following questions must be asked. Is college for everybody. Who is college for. What types of experiences should students pursue that will make them more competitive in the job market. In the midst of great change, what is the role of the university. What are the roles of the student, and of the family in picking a college to attend. Policy wonks will issue decrees on change and philosophers will debate them. Poets will write odes to the university of the past, and visionaries will dream of the university of the future. This manifesto is about the architects of the present—those that seek to rebuild the system, brick by brick. This manifesto seeks to identify some steps that colleges, students and families can take to make education more affordable and accessible for students, and give them more of what they need to succeed in the present and future economy. It is also about how students can take control of the current educational system and make college a more sound investment than it is presently.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Personal MBA, Updated & Expanded: Mastering Business Without Spending a Fortune
By Josh Kaufman
"The Personal MBA is a project designed to help you educate yourself about advanced business concepts as quickly and inexpensively as possible. This manifesto will show you how to substantially increase your knowledge of business on your own time and with little cost, all without setting foot inside a classroom. The Personal MBA is more flexible than a traditional MBA program, doesn't involve going into massive debt, and won't interrupt your income stream for two years. Just pick up one of these business books, learn as much as you can, discuss what you learn with others, then go out into the real world and make great things happen. If you're interested in educating yourself about business, the Personal MBA is the best place to start."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
8 Tips for Managing Your Personal Brand
By Porchlight
Your reputation is your brand. Your brand is your reputation. And it makes a world of difference in every relationship you have.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / New Releases
Daring Greatly
By Porchlight
Perfect and bulletproof are seductive, but they don't exist in the human experience. We must walk into the arena, whatever it may be—a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family meeting—with courage and a willingness to engage.
Categories: new-releases