Uncategorized Posts
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Blog / ChangeThis
15 1/2 Ideas to Make Your Presentation Go From Boring to Bravo
By Porchlight
"While it will always be easier to recite information (one-way) than it is to make an engaging speech (two-way) presentation that connects with your audience, today's audiences are demanding more engagement and interaction. Their lives are full of instant updates and streaming headline news sent straight to their cell phones. They are expecting you to bring specific knowledge they can't get anywhere else and deliver it in an entertaining way. Unfortunately, most people rely on a few tried (yet true) techniques to engage an audience and rarely stumble outside their comfort zone. If you truly want to connect with your audience, you can choose to make your presentations more engaging and interactive."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
The HERO Compact: Empowering Your Employees to Compete in Todays Economy
By Josh Bernoff, Ted Schadler
"Individuals have more power than ever. Managers can see this as a threat, or as an opportunity. Think about it. Any of your customers could trash your reputation at any moment. They could write a video about his bad experience that attracts 8 million views, which is what Dave Carroll did after United Airlines baggage handlers broke his guitar. They could tell a million people to never buy your product, which is what Heather Armstrong did when, surrounded by soiled diapers, her frustration at Maytag's inability to fix her new clothes washer boiled over. For managers, the only defense is to empower your own employees to solve those customers' problems."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Reinventing Ethics
By Porchlight
"What if thou shalt not became can do? What if we developed moral competence rather than bemoaned a lack of moral courage? What if we looked at ethics as a wellspring of passion and creativity rather than of required restraint? What if our values became a source of satisfaction, rather than a threat of guilt? What if we asked what if?"
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Let's Get Naked: Why Individual Investors Should Shed the Emperors Clothes of Wall Street Investment Experts
By Robert Fischer
"In this manifesto, I'm going to introduce you to rules-based mechanical investing (also known as naked investing strategies), which has been available for years. In fact, Warren Buffett wrote about this in the forward of the 1973 edition of The Intelligent Investor. But these techniques have languished for decades, as mutual fund companies—with big dollars to spend on advertising—have purchased the souls and minds of the financial press. And employing systematic naked strategies is simply a more effective way to make investing decisions than relying on the judgment of Wall Street investment experts."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Being Clutch, Or How Not To Choke Under Pressure
By Paul Sullivan
"Being great under pressure is hard work. This is part of the reason why we are so impressed by people who seem immune to choking. These people come through in the clutch when others don't. If they're business leaders, they become gurus other executives want to emulate. In politics, the person who runs the gauntlet wins the election, but if he can do so in a particularly cunning way, he becomes an example of strategic excellence. In combat, it is the leaders who come under fire and get their men to safety who are recognized as war heroes. If the people are sporting figures, their triumphs become legendary. We are so fascinated by these feats that we have created a nearly mythical aura around clutch performers."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / Staff Picks
The Female Vision
Book Review by Porchlight
The following review was written by our owner, Carol Grossmeyer, and first appeared in our monthly newsletter, the KeenThinker. ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ It’s been a long time since a book has come across my desk that made me instantly stop in my tracks, so I was thrilled when The Female Vision: Women’s Real Power at Work did just that. I was captured first by the arresting cover, a closeup photo of a woman’s eyes and then intrigued by the simple but powerful title, The Female Vision.
Categories: staff-picks
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Blog / News & Opinion
Conference Room B
By Porchlight
“The irreducible essence of leadership is that leaders are people who live their deepest personal values without compromise, and they use those values to make life better for others—that is why people become leaders and why people follow leaders. ” —Stan Slap, Bury My Heart at Conference Room B (Portfolio, August 2010) If you follow Jack Covert Selects, you may recognize the quote above from Jack's most recent review. It's a quote that Jack and Carol appreciated so much that they asked me to put it on our conference room wall.
Categories: news-opinion, the-company
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Blog / News & Opinion
How Made to Stick was Made to Stick: What Ideas Survived and What Died
By Porchlight
We really loved the Heath Brother's first book, What Sticks: Why Some Ideas Work in the World and Others Don't, when it first arrived in our office in 2007. So much, in fact, that we saved the manuscript—something we rarely do due to the staggering amount of books we receive every year. The subtitle was a little unruly, but the ideas spiral-bound up in that plastic cover were concise, well-written, and right on.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
A Defense of Business Books
By Sally Haldorson
It's a common reaction. When I explain to people that I work for a bookstore that specializes in business books, most people either furrow their brows or wrinkle their noses. Sometimes this reaction is caused by confusion as bookstores, to most people, are brick and mortar locations that display New York Times best selling fiction, spin racks of greeting cards, and children's pictures books.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
BrandManageCamp 2010
By Porchlight
If you're in the Vegas area (or are interested in going), be sure to check out this year's BrandManageCamp, run by the great folks at ManageCamp. 2010 marks their 8th event, and this year's lineup is not to be missed. Featuring a bunch of authors we've talked about (and with) at this site before: David Meerman Scott, Jeff Hayzlett, Jackie Huba, Bob Gilbreath, and many more, discussing ideas on building your company's brand.
Categories: news-opinion