Uncategorized Posts
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Blog / News & Opinion
How Did They Do It?
By Sally Haldorson
In our The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, we included a chapter of recommended biographies. Jack has always championed the form as a valid way to learn valuable business lessons, not just as good entertainment. In the opening of the chapter, we explained: How did they do it?
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
PRSA Presents Blog Panel in Milwaukee
By Porchlight
The PRSA Southeastern Wisconsin chapter presents: Blogger Relations for Dummies (And PR Pros) Thursday, August 25 Reception: 11:30 a. m. ; Lunch and program 12-1:30 p.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
ChangeThis: Issue 85
By Porchlight
Sober Entrepreneurship: Why Modern Entrepreneurs Won’t Succeed Under the Influence by Carol Roth "If we are going to hang our hat on entrepreneurship, we need to ensure more successes, avoid the number of true failures and make sure that we have the right people pursuing the right opportunities at the right time with the right preparation. Friends don’t let friends start businesses under the influence. ” Adapt: The Benefits of Safe Mistakes by Tim Harford “We cling on to the idea that successful business people are talented leaders running objectively brilliant corporations.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / ChangeThis
A General's Guide to Deploying an Army of Entrepreneurs
By Porchlight
"When you build a team, are you focused on joining links in a chain or weaving together a strong rope of intertwined employees? While I may have started out building a chain–mindful that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link—I came to see that interweaving the threads of a rope came much closer to meeting my goal of a cohesive, interactive team. That way, I eliminate the inevitable spaces between chain links, replacing them with a 'rope' team, where every thread is bound together. [...] This is the model I used as I found, trained and deployed my staff—my Army—and I could not be more satisfied and proud of the results we've had and the achievements I see on a daily basis."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Lessons from S&P Recession Survivors
By Porchlight
"Investors have heard many decry the decade of the 2000s as the 'lost decade.' A dollar invested in the S&P 500 on the first trading day of 1999 saw it worth just 65 cents a decade later (3/31/09 is our cutoff point). This "underperformance" is seen by many as a failure of the U.S. economic engine. If we look at the Top 20 performers of the S&P 500 during that same time period, we see a vastly different story. Instead of a 35% loss during that time, the Top 20 earned an average 426% return in stock price, excluding dividends. What accounted for this differential performance during this "lost decade"? This manifesto offers some insights based on an analysis of the Top 20's business environment and strategies deployed during the 2000s. Then, we recount some lessons that any firm can use to build a solid economic future."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Sober Entrepreneurship: Why Modern Entrepreneurs Won't Succeed Under the Influence
By Carol Roth
"According to the Kauffman Foundation, we are seeing approximately 6 million new businesses created every year. Most of those aren't driven by innovation and if recent history is an indicator, they won't grow or even exist five years from now. If we are going to hang our hat on entrepreneurship, we need to ensure more successes, avoid the number of true failures and make sure that we have the right people pursuing the right opportunities at the right time with the right preparation. Friends don't let friends start businesses under the influence."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Adapt: The Benefits of Safe Mistakes
By Tim Harford
"We cling on to the idea that successful business people are talented leaders running objectively brilliant corporations. But the world is far too complex and changes far too rapidly for us to have any confidence that this fondly held idea is true. It's easy to list corporations which have enjoyed periods of great success, only to stumble and fail to adapt: think of US Steel and Cudahy Packing a hundred years ago, Atari and Pan Am in the 1970s, and General Motors and MySpace more recently. Or think of eBay, McDonald's, and the Nobel-prize winning Grameen Bank, which have suddenly sprung from nowhere, almost by accident, because somebody happened upon a brilliant idea. So does economic success happen despite business failure? I'd go further than that. Economic success happens because of business failure. It's the failure of once-dominant companies that makes space for new business ideas."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The End of the Roundabout Way: Why Quality of Life Will Finally Take Center Stage
By Porchlight
"The next quantum leap will occur when a critical mass of people realizes that one of the major purposes of life is JOY. Until then, most people will accept an ersatz, an imitation, or a roundabout way of creating joy. Is JOY a BMW? (That's the advertising campaign the company has been running). Not really. Sorry, but no. With all due respect to BMW, joy has nothing to do with a (great!) metal box on wheels. That's transportation. And if you do not feel joy unless you have money to buy this car, you're really screwed. Because next year, joy is going to be your own private Boeing. Or a trip to Mars. Or watching shooting stars on Jupiter."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Right Fights: Making Conflict Productive
By Saj-Nicole Joni
"Your job as a leader isn't to eliminate dissonance–your job is to make conflict productive. Right Fights enable you and your team to stop fighting about everything that doesn't matter and start fighting, in a high-minded manner, about what really matters. I promise you this: Master the competencies of Right Fights and you will achieve sustainable breakthroughs and effect real organizational change. The fuel of human invention is found in dissonance, diversity, competition, and even conflict. That's how you win in the marketplace. Start by asking yourself: Is this the right fight to fight?"
Categories: changethis
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Blog / News & Opinion
Healthy Competition
By Porchlight
Business books can deal with some very serious advice regarding competitive advantage, but sometimes it's fun to take the lighter side of things. We sell business books, and Stone Creek Coffee sells coffee. We never cross paths in the marketplace, but ping pong?
Categories: news-opinion