Uncategorized Posts
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Blog / News & Opinion
Martha Stewart and a Midwestern Blacksmith
By Porchlight
There are scores of makers in Milwaukee (and in your city) doing fantastic work you can't find at the Box and Everything stores.
Categories: news-opinion, narrative-biography, the-company
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Blog / Jack Covert Selects
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life
By Porchlight
Many of my favorite books are about other books, so I was thrilled to come across Russ Roberts’ new book about Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Categories: jack-covert-selects
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Blog / Jack Covert Selects
Jack Covert Selects - Leading the Life You Want
By Sally Haldorson
Refuting the concept of work/life balance, Leading the Life You Want instead explains that whatever balance we wish to achieve will always ebb and flow.
Categories: jack-covert-selects
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Blog / News & Opinion
Friday Links
By Porchlight
The vast majority of articles about startups and innovation focus on Silicon Valley. Today we look at two innovators far removed from the typical incubators.
Categories: news-opinion, the-company
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Blog / Staff Picks
How Not To Be Wrong
Book Review by Porchlight
I have very little background in math ... But, despite my typically non-mathematical disposition, How Not To Be Wrong called to me from the shelf.
Categories: staff-picks
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Entrepreneur's Journey
By Kevin Kruse
"My call to entrepreneurship happened in an unusual manner, when I was just 12 years old. A mysterious one-armed man approached me and set me off on a journey that would eventually include the launch of several companies—some successful, some not. This manifesto both celebrates and encourages entrepreneurship because we need entrepreneurs to fight the dragons that roam the globe. Yes, dragons. They sit in plain sight: civil wars, extreme poverty, disease, water scarcity, domestic violence, illiteracy, and so many others. While the work of relief agencies and social welfare groups is vital—especially in response to acute crises—for lasting change we need modern-day heroes who courageously take personal risks as they build new companies."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Growth Hacker Wake Up Call: How Growth Hacking Rewrote Marketing's Best Practices
By Ryan Holiday
"The term 'growth hacker' has many different meanings for different people, here's my definition: A growth hacker is someone who has thrown out the playbook of traditional marketing and replaced it with only what is testable, trackable, and scalable. Their tools are emails, pay-per-click ads, blogs, and platform APIs instead of commercials, publicity, and money. While their marketing brethren chase vague notions like "branding" and "mind share," growth hackers relentlessly pursue users and growth—and when they do it right, those users beget more users, who beget more users. They are the inventors, operators, and mechanics of their own self-sustaining and self-propagating growth machine that can take a startup from nothing to something."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Conquering the Seven Summits: High Achievement, From Mount Everest to Every Business
By Susan Ershler, John Waechter
"Perseverance is the singular quality that Everest summiteers and the business elite have in common. We don't believe that perseverance is an intrinsic quality possessed by the fortunate few. On the contrary, we're convinced that anyone can accomplish great feats if they summon the will required to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Successful individuals know how to motivate themselves to achieve peak performance. They know what internal levers to pull when their engines of determination start to flag."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Effective Leaders Create Discomfort
By Marcia Reynolds
"The best leaders make us feel unsure of ourselves. They help us recognize that what we think is true, is not. Their reflections make us stop and think. Then their questions break down our frames. They create these disruptions with courage, care, respect, and a firm belief in our highest potential. Although we are uncomfortable, this moment of uncertainty allows us to formulate a broader view of what we can do and who we can be. These leaders strengthen people as well as organizations."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Detecting and Surviving Seven Silent Growth Killers
By Porchlight
"Unlike dry spells in innovation, quality defects and mistakes made in entering new markets, many of the problems that midsized companies must deal with are not obvious. These problems grow out-of-sight in the dark recesses of the midsized organization, unrecognized by management in their daily routines until they emerge as full-blown crises that can threaten the present and future of the business. I refer to these special afflictions of midsized companies—seven in all—as silent growth killers. These silent growth killers sneak up on leaders at midsized companies just as high blood pressure and high cholesterol can creep up on us, often unnoticed, and later cause massive complications. Just as those medical conditions, untreated, can lead to an early demise, executives who fail to prevent or address these silent growth killers may see their businesses collapse in a dysfunctional heap."
Categories: changethis