ChangeThis
ChangeThis is our weekly series of essays from today's thought leaders that are meant to evoke conversation by bringing forth new and unique ideas.
ChangeThis
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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."
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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."
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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."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Becoming the New Boss
By Porchlight
"A story is told about a reporter who was interviewing a successful bank president. He wanted to know the secret of the man's success. 'Two words,' the president replies; 'right decisions.'"
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Blog / ChangeThis
Work/Life Balance Is Hurting Us: A Manifesto for a Better Life Because of Work, Not Despite It
By Jennifer Moss
"I believe that work/life balance is killing us. Why? Because it makes us believe that work is hard and horrible—that life is fun and work is tolerated. Too many of us cling to the weekend after just 'getting by' every other day of the week. Life shouldn't begin on Friday and end on Sunday."
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Blog / ChangeThis
Image Is Substance
By Andy Cunningham
"How do you influence people to buy things? How do you educate the public about companies? And how do you match potential customers with a given product or service? Essentially, how do you help companies win in the market? I discovered early on that the answer is authenticity ... When companies promote themselves authentically, they get more customers and sell more stuff. It's as simple as that, and I built my entire career on that premise."
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Blog / ChangeThis
A Call to Lead with Courage, Authenticity and Service
By Kevin Cashman
"With the escalating volatility, complexity and disruptions in today's world, it would be understandable, even easy, to become discouraged. Another viable response is to pull inspiration from those leaders exemplifying courageous, authentic leadership, and to go deeper within ourselves to reframe our challenges as a potent call to step up and lead with heightened courage, values, purpose and authenticity. The toughest situations are often a call to go deeper into self first in order to serve others with greater impact."
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A Values-Based Culture
By Robert Spector, breAnne O. Reeves
"In order to stay competitive, organizations must be guided by philosophies, practices, and strategies that deal with current and future market conditions. In order to ensure longevity and loyalty, organizations must have a foundation built on its non-negotiable values."
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Good and Bad of Grit
By Caroline Adams Miller
"The moment people understand how passion, hard work, and dedication to a goal fit into a traditional description of grit, they usually think of someone they know who fits the definition in a good way, like Gandhi or someone in their extended family who showed them early that work pays off. But it isn't long before they get a puzzled look and ask about Hitler. [...] In order to make it easier to understand the differences between good grit and bad grit, I've divided up the types of positive Authentic Grit that I see in the world, along with examples to help flesh out their significance and meaning."
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Blog / ChangeThis
What Your Career Needs Now Is Some Relational Intelligence
By Angie McArthur
"Likely you have been schooled in many rational strategies, but you probably never received any training that fosters relational intelligence. Relational Intelligence is the ability to connect with those who think differently through communication, understanding, learning and trust. It is what enables you to grow yourself with another. In this age of complexity, chaos, and constantly changing teams, the more skill you have to work and relate across differences, the more effective and happier you will be. For twenty years the two of us have been passionately developing and offering strategies for senior leaders around the world that increase relational intelligence."
Categories: changethis
The original idea behind ChangeThis came from Seth Godin, and was built in the summer of 2004 by Amit Gupta, Catherine Hickey, Noah Weiss, Phoebe Espiritu, and Michelle Sriwongtong. In the summer of 2005, ChangeThis was turned over to 800-CEO-READ. In addition to selling and writing about books, they kept ChangeThis up and running as a standalone website for 14 years. In 2019, 800-CEO-READ became Porchlight, and we pulled ChangeThis together with the rest of our editorial content under the website you see now. We remain committed to the high-design quality and independent spirit of the original team that brought ChangeThis into the world.