Blog
-
Blog / New Releases
The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made and Unmade
By Porchlight
Carter Cast examines career derailment, advises on how to avoid it, and offers leaders and companies a look at how they can stop compounding the problem.
Categories: new-releases
-
Blog / Book Giveaways
The 2017 Business Book of the Year: Janesville
By Porchlight
Amy Goldstein's book about the city of Janesville is a microcosmic illustration of a national experience.
Categories: giveaways
-
Blog / News & Opinion
In Praise of Janesville: The 2017 800-CEO-READ Business Book of the Year
By Sally Haldorson
Eminently accessible, instantly absorbable, Janesville is a story of economics lived. Of the decisions a monolithic company makes that results in economic devastation for a middle-American town, and the families that live there. A microcosmic illustration of a national experience, Janesville is about idealism and stubbornness and desperation and bravery. And we all can learn a lot about ourselves and our capacity for resilience from the children whose stories are at the heart of Janesville.
Categories: news-opinion, narrative-biography, publishing-industry, the-company
-
Blog / ChangeThis
How Brilliant Careers are Made (and Unmade)
By Carter Cast
"Getting things done through others—the essence of leadership—requires a combination of technical skills (being proficient in areas important to the success of the business), intrapersonal skills (especially strong self-management skills, which are driven by self-understanding and self-control), and interpersonal skills (the ability to develop and foster strong relationships and gain the enlistment of others). People may derail due to a lack of technical, job-related skills, but more common reasons have to do with intrapersonal or interpersonal issues that impede them from enlisting people to accomplish goals. A revealing part of my research included conducting a survey of one hundred derailed managers and then executing follow-up interviews with a subset of the derailed population. My research found that 'a lack of self-awareness' and 'difficulty working with others' were the top two reasons that these one hundred people experienced a career derailment event."
Categories: changethis
-
Blog / ChangeThis
People Have Power. Don't Take It Away.
By Patty McCord
"The first step in culture transformation is embracing a management mind-set that overturns conventional wisdom. The fundamental lesson we learned at Netflix about success in business today is this: the elaborate, cumbersome system for managing people that was developed over the course of the twentieth century is just not up to the challenges companies face in the twenty-first. Reed Hastings and I and the rest of the management team decided that, over time, we would explore a radical new way to manage people—a way that would allow them to exercise their full powers."
Categories: changethis
-
Blog / ChangeThis
The Truth About Entrepreneurship
By Derek Lidow
"It's time we told the truth about entrepreneurship. A lot depends on it. Over $530 billion, yes billion, is spent on launching startups every year. Most of that money comes directly out of the entrepreneurs' pockets, or from the equity in their houses, or from debt. Much of it also comes from gifts, loans, or investments from friends and family. Only 10 to 20% of this money, depending upon the year and the state of frenzy in venture investing, comes from complete strangers and professional investors. Most of this money is wasted by ill-prepared entrepreneurs who have virtually no chance of success. And it will continue to be wasted, along with the time and effort that many hard working people put into these doomed enterprises, unless we can introduce them early on to the truth about what it takes to create and sustain a new business."
Categories: changethis
-
Blog / ChangeThis
Accelerating into Fearless Growth: Seven Questions That Can Change Your Future
By Amanda Setili
"Though the accelerating pace of market change has made achieving growth goals more risky and perilous, it has never been more critical than it is now. There are several reasons why. Growth attracts new talent, because they see good prospects for advancement. It helps us to retain our best employees by creating opportunities for them to learn and contribute. Growth gives lenders and creditors the confidence to extend favorable terms. It provides proof to fickle investors that their money is well placed. And, when we are growing, suppliers contribute their best ideas and resources to help us improve our products and services."
Categories: changethis
-
Blog / ChangeThis
We Should All Be Serial Achievers (and That Definitely Includes Your Employees)
By Jeff Haden
"To most people 'specialization' indicates accomplishment and success, when in fact the opposite is true. You, me, all of us... we're too good to specialize. And so are your employees. In fact, the pursuit of perfection is the enemy, especially on a professional level. The current professional landscape actually values generalists over specialists. Change occurs quickly. Skills that are valued today are obsolete tomorrow. Managers can't just be good at managing a certain function; they need to be good leaders. Employees can't just be good at performing a certain function; they need to embrace an entrepreneurial mind-set and constantly reinvent themselves."
Categories: changethis
-
Blog / Book Giveaways
The 2017 800-CEO-READ Business Book Award Shortlost
By Porchlight
This week, we are giving away the eight books on our 2017 Business Book Awards shortlist.
Categories: giveaways
-
Blog / Editor's Choice
Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life
Book Review by Porchlight
Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard's book is about much more than their time as social secretaries in the White House. It is about how we can all work better together.
Categories: editors-choice, narrative-biography
