Monster Loyalty: How to Build Customer Loyalty like Lady Gaga
by Jackie Huba

“While known as much for her voice as for her over-the-top wardrobe, few recognize Lady Gaga for her stunning business acumen, which has earned her legions of loyal fans worldwide.”

Brains Favor the Ridiculously In Charge Leader by Henry Cloud, Ph.D

“Leaders must establish some key boundaries in some very key areas if they want to get results. And, thanks to brain research, we now can scientifically get a peek into why the leaders who do establish these kinds of boundaries get the results that they get.”

Mentorship 2.0: How to Find the Mentor You Need by Dorie Clark

“Waiting for a mentor to appear like a deus ex machina is a loser’s game. Some people luck out, but most don’t. This manifesto is about how to make your own luck—how to proactively identify the people you want in your life as mentors, cultivate real relationships, and look beyond the obvious.”

Recharge: 7 Ways to Improve Innovative Thinking by Debra Kaye

“If companies want to innovate the way successful bold newcomers have, they have to unplug from the constraints of, ‘That’s the way we’ve always done it,’ and recharge, starting with the mantra, ‘Let’s just not do that anymore.’”

The Art of Adherence by Lee J. Colan, PhD & Julie Davis-Colan

“Achieving adherence is simple but not necessarily easy. It takes skill and creativity to continually nurture focus, competence, and passion with your team. This is why we call it the art of adherence.”

An Action Plan for Making Good Customer Service a Reality by Kirk Kazanjian

“Any company can market and promote that they are experts at cuddling customers, but very few ever get the formula for execution right. [...] They like to talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.”

Time Ain’t Money: Stop Punching the Industrial Age Clock, and Start Embracing the Digital Now
by Douglas Rushkoff

“Living in the digital media environment changes a whole lot more than the technologies through which we do business. It has changed our relationship to time—and this is having profound effects on our businesses, our economy, and our customers.”

How to Boost Your Bottom Line… And Save the Planet, Too by Mark R. Tercek

“If you want your company to thrive, you will need to be bold, think big, and be aggressive about pursuing business opportunities that work with the environment, not against it.”

Fitting in and Standing Out: Shifting Mindsets from Taking to Giving
by Adam Grant

“We face a tension between two competing motivations: fitting in and standing out. On the one hand, we want to belong—to experience similarity with others. On the other hand, we want to feel unique—to differentiate ourselves from others.”

It’s Smart to Suck (Sometimes) by Jake Breeden

“Pride pulls us to do things well, and shame pushes us away from doing things poorly. But in certain critical times—especially when it’s time to do something new—these emotions push and pull us in unwise directions. Sometimes doing your very best is the very worst decision. In fact, sometimes it’s smart to suck.”

Customer Service is Not a Department by Lee Cockerell

“As an executive, you may never see or speak to a customer, but you model how they should be treated with every interaction you have, with vendors, creditors, suppliers, and especially your employees. Treat everyone with sincerity and respect and it will trickle down to your customers.”

We Are All Creators Now—And We Are Creating a New Indie Capitalism
by Bruce Nussbaum

“Look to the edges of our economy, look to the new models and practices being developed by our young, look to energy of our entrepreneurs and look to the subtle shifts of our most progressive corporations and you can see something emerging. You can see the rise of Indie Capitalism.”

Innovation Begins Here: How to Become the Hero in the Hero’s Journey
by Brian Solis

“Each of you has his or her own path to follow, and what you do next is yours and only yours to define. While that may sound either trite, abstract, or both, the future does in fact begin with you and will be defined by you.”

Lay Off Your Buildings, Not Your People! by Maynard Webb

“When I began my career, everyone “went” to work … if you weren’t inside the office, you weren’t able to work. Offices and office hours actually made sense. Now it’s an unbelievably outdated concept.”

How Self-Doubt Makes Leaders Better by Steven Snyder

“In those unsettling moments when you find yourself standing at the outer edge of all that is known and familiar, the uncertainty about how best to move forward can open wide the gateway to self-doubt. How you respond in those moments can accelerate your development as a leader.”

Being “Good” Pays Off Big: 21st Century Values are a Winning Strategy in Business and Personal Life by Peter Georgescu

“Chances are that business will get even tougher and more competitive in the years ahead. So we’ve all got to man up for the brutally competitive world out there. Don’t we? Well, no.”

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone: Taking Risks, Trusting your Gut and Becoming a Game Changer! by John Wood

“There was a time when the only types of people who took risks and voluntarily stepped out of their comfort zone were the high rollers who could afford to take a chance. Now, none of us can afford to NOT take risks.”

The Self-Publishing Revolution by Guy Kawasaki & Shawn Welch

“Shelf space for ebooks is infinite, and anyone who can use a word processor can write and publish a book. These changes don’t mean that books are better—no more than a democratic political system guarantees better leaders—but at least the system is more accessible.”

Pause to Lead Forward: The Paradoxical Leadership Breakthrough
by Kevin Cashman

“Could it be that going faster and driving harder are not the answers? … Could it be that the source of our real value as leaders might come from different thinking and different choices rather than from perpetuation of the incessant pace we strain to maintain?”

Ninja Innovation: The Secrets of Today’s Top Innovators by Gary Shapiro

“After thirty years in the consumer electronics industry, I have seen my fair share of successes and failures. Applying our idea to the successes, we decided they exhibited characteristics of the feudal Japanese stealth warrior known as the ninja.”

Making the Unconscious Conscious: How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing by Douglas Van Praet

“If we don’t understand our own preferences or the true motivations behind our own behaviors, marketers are wasting billions of dollars each year by asking questions people simply can’t know the answer to.”

Being Vulnerable: Business Tips from a Former CIA Officer by J.C. Carleson

“Face it. You’re vulnerable. So is your boss. So is your client. So are your employees. And their vulnerabilities can result in decisions that leave YOU feeling betrayed.”

Can Business Save The World? by Joey Reiman

“Business people are the new superheroes. And they are here to save the world. Their super power is purpose. And with it they intend to improve and save billions of lives while putting millions more dollars back into the economy.”

After our 100th issue in November, and spreading ideas and information in manifesto form each and every month for the past seven years, we took a (much needed) month off to reflect, refresh, and refocus…and to keep an eye out for the end of the world.

Well, the world didn’t end, so we’re back at it this month, trying to inspire positive change individual reader by individual reader. So, without further ado, here is ChangeThis: Issue 101.

Leapfrogging to Breakthroughs by Soren Kaplan

“Surprise is the enemy. Or, is it? Could we be overlooking—even resisting—one of the most essential catalysts of personal and business breakthroughs? Could we be ignoring the most fundamental tool that anyone can use to create disruptive innovation and change?”

Overemphasis on Profit Erodes Your Bottom Line: Why Purpose-Driven Salespeople Wildly Outperform Their Quota-Driven Counterparts
by Lisa Earle McLeod

“Most people believe that money is the primary motivator for top salespeople and that doing good by the world runs a distant second. That belief is wrong.”

Service Failure: Do You Really Care About Your Customer? by Jeff Toister

“Executives may claim to care about their customers, but their actions frequently suggest just the opposite. … I know what you are thinking. You’re different. You truly care about your customers … Still, do you really care about customer service?”

You—According to Them: Accelerating Career Success By Understanding—and Boosting—Your Reputation by Sara Canaday

“‘Reputation’ is not a line item we can find on a corporate income statement. But honestly, it should be. Instead it’s lurking in there, living pervasively below the surface of the carefully calculated revenues and expenses.”

Forget Today: Start at the End by Dave Lavinsky

“In business, as in everything else, you need to have a clear vision of where you want to go. Then, and only then, can you create a plan to follow to get you there. The key is to “start at the end.” Figure out where you want to go. And then you can reverse engineer the path to get there.”

Why It Pays to Be Likeable by Dave Kerpen

“The speed and ease with which information travels—the good, the bad and the ugly—is faster than ever before, and only accelerating. Today, the brands that succeed aren’t the ones that spend the most money on disruptive advertising—they’re the ones that spend the most money on creating valuable, meaningful products and customer service.”

In thinking of what to do for the 100th issue of ChangeThis, a lot of ideas were conjured up. But, in the end, we decided the most important thing we could do is to keep on doing the work we’ve been doing since Seth Godin turned the site over to us in the summer of 2005—act as a vehicle for moving ideas in service of authors and our audience.

We did do a few special things with the issue, though. We invited Seth back to lead the issue with some insights from his forthcoming book, The Icarus Deception. We have a manifesto from our General Manager here at 800-CEO-READ, Jon Mueller, related to his ongoing, multidisciplinary project Death Blues. And we also have a manifesto from Michael J. Mauboussin, the only author featured in The 100 Best Business Books of All Time—written by our founder Jack Covert and former president Todd Sattersten, but a labor of love for the whole 800-CEO-READ family—with a new book out this month. The book, The Success Equation, is great, and we think you’ll love the manifesto. Rounding out the issue are Scott Schwerlty, Bryan Mattimore, and Nikos Acuña—all original thinkers with great perspectives on business and life.

We hope you enjoy the issue. Until next month…

We Are All Artists Now by Seth Godin

“We know how much you care, and it’s a shame that the system works overtime to push you away from the people and the projects you care about. The world does not owe you a living, but just when you needed it, it has opened the door for you to make a difference.”

Death Blues: The Celebration and Opportunity of Each Moment
by Jon Mueller

“What happens when we thoroughly hold and understand that our lives are finite? How does this understanding of our end shape our present? And how do we become more ‘present?’”

The Paradox of Skill: Why Greater Skill Leads to More Luck
by Michael J. Mauboussin

“Greater skill doesn’t decrease the dependence on luck, it increases it. If you have an interest in sports, business, or investing, this lesson is for you.”

The Snowflake Moment: Presenting the Future Today by Scott Schwertly

“[T]he snowflake moment is just one of a countless million moments, an isolated still shot of an existence that is predominantly defined by its very motion. We are what we do every day. Nothing more.”

How to be an Idea Guru: U.S. Department of Innovation, April 1, 2018 by Bryan W. Mattimore

“Please Note: The following is a transcript of the introductory workshop for the Department of Innovation’s, How to be an Idea Guru program, held from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on April 1, 2018 at the Department of Innovation’s Training Center in Washington, DC.”

The Creative Instinct: How Big Ideas Happen by Nikos Acuña

“Everything that has ever been meaningful in this world was born from someone’s imagination. Everything in this world, including us, started out as an idea, a shadow of possibility.”

The Connected Company: How Distributed Organism Businesses are Rising Against the Machine to Build a More Connected World by Dave Gray

“Companies are not really machines, so much as complex, dynamic, growing systems. After all, companies are really just groups of people who have banded together to achieve some kind of purpose.”

The Laws of Subtraction: How to Innovate in the Age of Excess Everything by Matthew E. May

“The noise is deafening, the signal weak. Everything is too complicated and time-sucking. Welcome to the age of excess everything. Success in this new age looks different, and demands a new and singular skill: Subtraction.”

Timeless Leadership for a New World by Erika Andersen

“Even though our leadership choices are no longer life-or-death (for the most part), unpredictable local and global economies, new business models arising from shifts in technology and consumer buying patterns, and a changing workforce mean that it’s critical for organizations to have strong and flexible leaders.”

Trust-and-Track: A New Approach to Small Business Success by Nick Sarillo

“At the core of trust-and-track is an optimistic belief about people. I have always believed that if you trained people right and took care of them, they would do the right thing for both themselves and the business.”

Uncommon Wisdom: Why Great Leaders Don’t Reward Results by Eric C. Sinoway

“The framework of this manifesto will help managers and leaders identify the employees who represent the future of their business, and it will help them spot and eliminate the organizational vampires that may kill it.”

Rethinking Your Business from the Outside In by Harley Manning, Kerry Bodine, & Josh Bernoff

“If you read the pages of the Wall Street Journal you would come to believe that business is about big deals—about multi-billion dollar acquisitions, massive pay packages for executives, macroeconomic forces … In fact, the secret of success is in the little things.”

How to Tell a Story: 10 Simple Strategies by Jonah Sachs

“Maybe it’s because we’re all so overloaded with information. Maybe it’s because we’re all so starved for meaning. Or maybe it’s because, thanks to social media, everyone’s become a broadcaster these days. Whatever the reason, we’re all getting the same memo at the same time: if you want to be heard, you’d better learn to tell better stories.”

The Personal MBA, Updated & Expanded: Mastering Business Without Spending a Fortune by Josh Kaufman

“MBA programs don’t have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge. You can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. … So skip business school and the suffocating student loans: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.”

Taking Higher Education Higher: How to Cut College Costs and Increase Degree Value by Sharla Berry

“With college costs rising, student loan debt skyrocketing and average starting salaries falling, the following questions must be asked. Is college for everybody? Who is college for? … This manifesto is for those who are willing to begin the work of change.”

El Sistema Comes to the USA: Playing the Mambo and Other Transformations By Jamie Bernstein

“El Sistema’s founder, the visionary musician and economist Jose Antonio Abreu, has said, ‘If you put a violin in a child’s hands, that child will never hold a gun.’ It is a profound idea … And now this idea is spreading around the world”

How “Helpful” Systems Extinguish Career Development (and What You Can Do to Reignite It) by Beverly Kaye & Julie Winkle Giulioni

“Career development appears at the top of many lists. Unfortunately, the lists tend to be those focused on what employees desperately want but are not getting from their managers.”

8 Tips for Managing Your Personal Brand 8 Tips for Managing Your Personal Brand by Rodger Dean Duncan

“Face it. For good or ill, you have a personal brand. In fact, in the eyes of others, you are your personal brand. … Your reputation is your brand. Your brand is your reputation. And it makes a world of difference in every relationship you have.”

The How Manifesto: Why How Business Gets Done Around the World is the New Competitive Advantage, and New Metrics for a New Reality
by Dov Seidman

“HOW. We’ll see that word a lot in this manifesto. Simply stated, HOW is the belief that in our more interconnected and interdependent world, we rise and fall together. The way to forge a better, more sustainable path of growth and progress lies in the realm of human behavior—HOW we do what we do.”

The Finch Effect: How Adaptability Will Save Your Career (and Happiness)
by Nacie Carson

“As humans, we have the power to direct our response. We can consciously choose how to change the shape of our beaks… or at least consciously choose how we respond to the changes in our environment. And that environmental change we face now, today, is an economic one.”

The Art of Not Knowing by Craig Coggle

“Innovation and creativity can only exist with the wonder of not knowing. I wonder what will happen if I mix this thing here with this thing over here. I don’t know but would love to find out. Curiosity is born from not knowing. Not knowing therefore can help us change and grow.”

The Failure to Engage: Understanding the Mechanism that Determines Employee Engagement and Micro-Innovation by John Bernard

“Employee engagement remains low because fear kills innovation and fear continues as the dominant management mechanism. … Fear blocks employees’ ability to say ‘yes’ to customer needs [and] to act on opportunities to innovate.”

How Perceptions Shape Realities by Baldev Seekri

“Whereas methodology, milestones and measurements are extremely important for any journey of achievement and they have their place in the execution stage of the journey, what is required in the earliest stage of the journey is to make the participants of the journey perceive the worthiness of the task at hand.”

Cure the (Self-Inflicted) Chaos First Cure the (Self-Inflicted) Chaos First
by Karen Martin

“More than 80 percent of improvement efforts fail to make a discernible difference in overall business performance, regardless of the improvement methodology in use. The reason isn’t a flaw in the methodologies, but a flaw inside of companies.”

The Secret to Self-Discipline By Rory Vaden

“Today’s work environment has been dubbed everything from the Age of Distraction and the Age of Inattention … The bottom line is this: regardless of your job title, we are all trying to accomplish increasingly more with increasingly less resources—whether those resources are money, time, focus, or energy.”

The Collaborative Organization by Jacob Morgan

“I believe that collaborative organizations can make the world a better place. … I believe that for the first time in history organizations are able to deploy technologies and strategies that not only impact the lives of employees in the workplace but also outside of the workplace, and both for the better.”

How to Spread Ideas: Think Like an Entrepreneur, Not Like a Crusader by John Vespasian

“The fact that most philosophers and innovators have acted like crusaders does not prove that this is the right way to live. In fact, the opposite if true. … When it comes to practical wisdom, entrepreneurs are light-years ahead of crusaders.”

Can You Call It a Business If It Isn’t Making Sales? Why So Many Business Owners Find Selling Difficult and What To Do About It. by Jenan Mujkic

“No matter what your first job is, your second job is self-promotion. … To do this effectively, you need to have ALL of your touch points mapped out, and they need to be designed and actively managed.”

How to Get Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level by Joel A. Garfinkle

“By studying, researching, and observing over a thousand clients, I discovered three things the most successful do that others don’t. … When used together, these three powerful principles will catapult you to the next level in your career and ensure future success.”

The Way of Identity by Larry Ackerman

“The order in life that affects us all is contained in a code, the identity code. Much like our biological genetic code, our identity code is born into each of us, providing a complete map of how we, as human beings, are designed to function—of how we are supposed to live—when we are living according to who we are.”