244 Posts found for Source: ChangeThis

e’ve all seen it: a successful employee promoted to manager is given no training and essentially pushed into the deep end and told to swim? According to the author, this approach to creating new managers is epidemic. Using an accessible gardening metaphor, this article contends that new managers must have a support system available to train them, while on the job, to become successful managers. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Erika Andersen | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Human Resources, Management

There are two qualities that usually determine a creative person’s potential…curiosity and determination. The curious learn, grow, and develop potential. The determined have the resolve to overcome the obstacles they encounter on their way to fulfilling their potential.

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Creativity, Success / Failure

Bob Sutton employs his signature frankness to discuss whether the bad behavior of workplace bullies and jerks should be tolerated in the name of success. While referencing such famous assholes as Steve Jobs of Apple or Hall of Fame baseball player Ty Cobb, Sutton debates the value of getting results with a strategic temper tantrum.

Content: Article | Author: Robert I. Sutton | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Organizational Behavior

I try to argue as if I am right, but listen as if I am wrong.

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Communication, Persuasion

“Rate your experience from 1 to 10” “Would you recommend our company?” We ask the questions of our customers. But what do we do with their answers? Jeanne Bliss gives us the action plan to actually make our customers happy with our services.

Editor’s Note:
I personally thought the introductory material was of little value, but the 10 steps which start on page 12 were … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jeanne Bliss | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Customer Related, Management

One million ideas a year. A culture of innovation. An intrinsic belief that good enough never is. Matthew May’s manifesto shows you how Toyota’s principles and practices will help you engage your creative spirit and bring elegant solutions to your work and life.

Content: Article | Author: Matthew E. May | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Innovation

How far are you willing to go to facilitate change in your organization? Management expert, David Maister, says you’ve got to be willing to go first. And he means all the way, even to the point of resigning if your change efforts fail. Instead of saying “Charge!” to the troops, say “Follow me!”.

Content: Article | Author: David Maister | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Management, Personal Development

Seth Godin’s advice on starting a business with no money.

Content: Article | Author: Seth Godin | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Entrepreneurship

This clever and entertaining essay from Paul Graham discusses how outsiders, free from convention and expectations, often generate the most revolutionary of ideas.

Editor’s Note: I really enjoyed reading this and highly recommend it…

Content: Article | Author: Paul Graham | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior

John Ehrenfeld proposes a radically different conversation about sustainability, one that moves away from mere problem solving, demands a new definition and envisions infinite possibilities.

Content: Article | Author: John Ehrenfeld | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Great innovation is great in large part because of context. Context separates invention from innovation. Context is like the frame in art. If the canvas doesn’t fit the frame, the whole thing doesn’t quite work.

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Innovation

I hold monthly coaching sessions with my direct reports. About once a quarter, I ask them to give me feedback on my leadership. Usually I ask “What can I do to more effectively support you?” and “If you were me, what would you do differently right now?”

The answers are often hard to hear, but usually just what I need to hear. And I most often … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Leadership, Personal Development

I find it is easier to get people to open up with candid feedback if you start by commenting on something you could have done better and then ask them to respond. You come out of a meeting and remark to a trusted colleague, “I think I could have done a better job keeping the group on task today. You seem to do this well. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Personal Development

If I ask people what they think of me, they are usually polite (well, usually.) But if I ask them if they’d be willing to tell me what other people say about me, I give them the opportunity to say things without putting them in the awkward position of criticizing me to my face. Quite often, they say “Well, now you’ve asked, there are some … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Personal Development

Decision making is an inherently social exercise. Here, Michael Mauboussin details three shocking psychological studies that reveal just how another’s action or opinion can profoundly change your own.

Content: Article | Author: Michael J. Mauboussin | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Organizational Behavior

How does responsibility constrain you? The worst thing is that it allows you not to focus on real work. Just as the most dangerous forms of procrastination are those that seem like work, the danger of responsibilities is not just that they can consume a whole day, but that they can do it without setting off the kind of alarms you’d set off if you … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Productivity / Work Tips, Work

A world with outsiders and insiders implies some kind of test for distinguishing between them. And the trouble with most tests for selecting elites is that there are two ways to pass them: to be good at what they try to measure, and to be good at hacking the test itself.

So the first question to ask about a field is how honest its tests are, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Organizational Behavior

Lord Acton said we should judge talent at its best and character at its worst. For example, if you write one great book and ten bad ones, you still count as a great writer, or at least, a better writer than someone who wrote eleven that were merely good. Whereas if you’re a quiet, law-abiding citizen most of the time but occasionally cut someone up … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Human Resources, Personality / Behavior

The eminent feel like everyone wants to take a bite out of them. The problem is so widespread that people pretending to be eminent do it by pretending to be overstretched. The lives of the eminent become scheduled, and that’s not good for thinking. One of the great advantages of being an outsider is long, uninterrupted blocks of time.

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Success / Failure

If you’re an outsider, don’t be ruled by plans. Planning is often just a weakness forced on those who delegate.

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subject: Planning