Uncategorized Posts
-
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
-
Blog / New Releases
Stacking the Deck
By Porchlight
David S. Pottruck provides and "An Operator's Manual for Leading Breakthrough Change" in Stacking the Deck.
Categories: new-releases
-
Blog / New Releases
Books to Watch: October 2014
By Porchlight
Fall is in full swing, and the list of excellent books is a mile high. Whether you're in need of something on big-picture strategy or personal improvement, the options are many. Here are a few that are on our radar for October.
Categories: new-releases
-
Blog / Excerpts
Growth Hacker Marketing
By Porchlight
Growth hacking can be used to sniff out and unearth information as valuable as truffles. But, as Ryan Holiday tells us, it requires a new mindset.
Categories: excerpts
-
Blog / News & Opinion
The FT Press/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Shortlist
By Porchlight
A shortlist for the 2014 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award was announced yesterday. The books chosen focus very much on the big-picture issues of the day, "the most important trends shaping our world" as the press release puts it, so the switch from Goldman Sachs to McKinsey as a partner to FT has not reduced the scope of the books as I thought it may. (I speculated back in May when the announcement was made that McKinsey would now be backing the award that it may change focus to the more nuts-and-bolts business management issues that McKinsey ostensibly focuses on in its own work.
Categories: news-opinion, publishing-industry
-
Blog / News & Opinion
ChangeThis: Issue 121
By Porchlight
Work As We Know It Is Dead by Jacob Morgan “The idea that ‘work sucks’ is engrained in almost every aspect of our professional lives. Employees aren't cogs, work should not be drudgery, and managers can no longer be slave-drivers. This isn’t a manifesto about following your passions or being happy, it’s a call to action to change and evolve our organizations to reflect the world they operate in.
Categories: news-opinion
-
Blog / ChangeThis
Watch Your F#*k%^g Language!: Why the Analogies We Embrace Drive Success and Failure, and How to Choose Better Ones
By Porchlight
"The analogical instinct is the human urge to compare what we encounter to what we know and, based on that comparison, jump to conclusions. This rush to judgment is a good thing, most of the time. It's an evolutionary advantage that helped our ancestors perceive the difference between a floating log and a floating crocodile; those who failed to see the similarity tended to get eaten at higher rates, and reproduce less. ... Eons later, analogies still drive our decision-making as individuals, as organizations, as companies and even as nations. ... In fact, a survey of history's greatest innovators, from Copernicus to Gutenberg to Darwin to the Wright Brothers, all achieved their greatest breakthroughs in large part through the effective use of analogy. Leaders as diverse as Winston Churchill, Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King also used analogy to great effect, persuading millions that they could change the world, no matter what challenges might lie ahead."
Categories: changethis
-
Blog / ChangeThis
The Quest for True Value: An Investor's Manifesto to Turn On, Tune In, Get High.
By Guy Spier
"When I discovered Warren Buffett, a light went on in my head. It did not take me long to realize that I wanted a life that was more like his than mine. Determined to transform my life, I began a long journey of discovery. It lead to my having a charity lunch with Warren Buffett at Smith & Wollensky's in 2008, but it also came with many costly mistakes and hard earned, but valuable lessons. [...] Today, I might not quite tap dance to work as well as Warren Buffett does, but I've gotten a lot better. My suggestion to you: lighten up. Stop working so hard and focusing on the money and your next promotion all the time. Start having fun while you work instead. That joy will show in your eyes, and the promotion and that raise will take care of themselves, along with career and life success."
Categories: changethis
-
Blog / ChangeThis
The Humble Pulpit: Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis
By Porchlight
"As someone who has studied leaders and the topic of leadership for more than three decades, I have long since believed that humility is the most under-rated of all leadership qualities. As a member of the publishing community for the same length of time, I have been baffled that no (commercial) publisher has ever published a book that instructs managers, leaders, and aspiring leaders how to become more humble. However, this should not come as a big surprise. That's because there has not been an inspiring, humble figure that could be used as a shining example of this key leadership quality. Until now. Since Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis in March of 2012, he has shown the world a new way to lead. Not with bluster or bravado, but with humility and humanity. He has, without a doubt, emerged as the most humble leader on the world stage. There isn't even a close second."
Categories: changethis
-
Blog / ChangeThis
Work As We Know It Is Dead
By Porchlight
This isn't a manifesto about following your passions or being happy, it's a call to action to change and evolve our organizations to reflect the world that they operate in.
Categories: changethis