News & Opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
ChangeThis: Issue 120
By Porchlight
Creating a Coaching Culture: A Playbook to Build Winning Business Teams by Nathan Jamail “In business, most of our employees are not as good as they could be—not because of our love for them or our desire to make their lives better than ours, but . . .
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
Authors On the Road, Changing the World - John Hope Bryant
By Porchlight
In the rapidly changing world of technology and the way we utilize that technology, we often forget many of our institutions were built over the phone, forming relationships with the people with whom we wanted to do business. In a group meeting here this week, our retired founder and president Jack Covert made the argument that if we want to maintain our current relationships better than our competitors and add something to their lives that others don't, we need to pick up the phone and have a real conversation with these people we value. We are fortunate that our business is still very much a people-orientated service company that really enjoys those breaks in the email or social media chain, and we’re lucky to have formed relationships with authors and institutions who uphold that same type of “old school” ethos.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
Warren Bennis | 1925-2014
By Porchlight
Aaron updated us last Wednesday with some dispatches we've received from a new generation of Authors On the Road, Changing the World. It is great to hear from the folks we're working with, to watch them spreading their ideas and expertise, and see them slowly and deliberately effect real change as they do. But, we know they're standing on the shoulders of giants, and as this new generation of authors and educators strengthens and broadens the scope of the business book genre, we have been losing some of those giants—the first generation of business book writers, the ones that blazed the trail, that made the study of business, management, and leadership an educational pursuit rather than a purely profit-based one.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
Friday Links
By Porchlight
➻ Let's start with a quote, brought to our attention by a Vox Communications post entitled Read this male CEO's feminist explanation of why he's quitting: Friends and colleagues often ask my wife how she balances her job and motherhood. Somehow, the same people don't ask me. The above pull-quote is from Max Schireson, CEO of database company MongoDB, extracted from a blog post he published revealing why he was stepping down from his CEO position.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
The FT Press/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Longlist
By Porchlight
I speculated back in May when submissions opened for The Financial Times and McKinsey & Company 2014 Business Book of the Year Award that the books they looked at would be more focused on business nuts-and-bolts issues now that a consultancy firm (McKinsey) had taken over for an investment bank (Goldman Sachs) as the Financial Times' partner on the awards. I also thought they would not be announcing a longlist as they had in the past because it was not on their awards schedule. It seems I was wrong on both counts, because The Financial Times and McKinsey announced a longlist this morning, and the books on it are mostly big-picture books, not nut-and-bolts business and management books.
Categories: news-opinion, publishing-industry
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Blog / News & Opinion
Authors On the Road, Changing the World
By Porchlight
Here at 8cr, we are so fortunate to work, and form long-lasting relationships with, really great authors who are sharing important ideas with people around the world. We see them out on the road speaking to hundreds of groups a year, trying to make the world of business a better place. Spending time away from their friends and families, they work hard to make sure that the ideas that they’ve captured on paper are helping people become better leaders, communicators, listeners.
Categories: news-opinion, publishing-industry, the-company
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Blog / News & Opinion
ChangeThis: Issue 119
By Porchlight
The Most Important Company In the World: Intel, Moore’s Law, and the Heartbeat of Civilization by Michael S. Malone “We now live differently, learn differently, communicate differently, an ultimately, think differently. … We have internalized Moore’s Law.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
Make your brand's purpose and passion clear
By Sally Haldorson
Joy Stauber runs Stauber Design Studio in Chicago, IL, and not only is she a great friend of the company, she is also a terrific designer who has helped us identify, articulate, and express our brand. If you've enjoyed any of our marketing pieces over the years, know that Joy has partnered with us to create the most eye-catching and consistent of messages. Watch the video below, created by Joy's intern, Lizzie Callen, which captures the best of our brand.
Categories: news-opinion, the-company
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Blog / News & Opinion
ChangeThis: Issue 118
By Porchlight
Repairing the Hole in the Boat: How the Poor Can Save Capitalism by John Hope Bryant “What if there was a way to use the power of free market enterprise to lift every American and indeed every human being on the planet to a level of dignity, inclusion, fulfillment, engagement, economic security and stability? Wouldn’t that be a truly noble cause? ” The Accelerating Organization: In a Faster Moving World, We Need Speed and Agility to Keep Up by John P.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
A Covert Departure
By Porchlight
Today is officially the last day of Jack Covert's tenure as President of 800-CEO-READ, a company he founded and has led since 1984. If it were up to us as a staff, we would find some grand gesture to mark the occasion. We would release a flock of exquisite birds in his honor, or etch "Thanks, Jack" onto the face of the moon.
Categories: news-opinion, narrative-biography, publishing-industry, the-company
