Elizabeth Whitworth, Author at Shortform Books

Circle of Competence: How to Identify & Develop Your Own

What are your circles of competence? How can you identify them? What should you do if you need to work outside of them? Shane Parrish and Rhiannon Beaubien explain a simple model for pinpointing where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Knowing whether you’re in a circle of competence allows you to avoid blunders and make better decisions. This helps you learn, grow, and succeed more in life and work. Keep reading to learn how to identify your circles of competence, what to do if you find yourself outside of one, and how to develop a new one.

How to Manage Your Career: Treat It Like a Business

Have changes in your industry impacted your career? Have your opportunities changed, even though you haven’t? In Only the Paranoid Survive, Andrew Grove discusses strategic inflection points—market disruptions that demand a response from your business. He also explains that your own career will face strategic inflection points, bringing major change down to a personal level. Read more for Grove’s advice on how to manage your career and ride the waves of change.

What Makes Your Product Unique? How to Stand Out

What makes your product unique? How is it different and better than the alternatives? Without proper positioning, customers can’t understand why they should bother to buy your product. In Obviously Awesome, April Dunford presents a 12-step positioning process. Step 5 is to identify what makes your product stand out from—and above—the alternatives. Let’s take a closer look at this step.

Thinking From First Principles: Knowing Where to Start

What’s first-principles thinking? How can it help you think for yourself and more effectively? In The Great Mental Models Volume 1, Shane Parrish and Rhiannon Beaubien discuss how and why to think with mental models. Thinking from first principles is one of their foundational models. Read more to learn what first-principles thinking is and how to apply it in your own life.

How to Lead Through Change: 4 Challenges to Pivoting

Can your company break with its established ways of doing things? Can you get everyone on the same page as you pivot your business? Andrew Grove’s book Only the Paranoid Survive shows you how to build a business that’s ready to roll with the punches. Even though you can prepare for market disruptions, you’ll still face major obstacles. Grove walks you through four major challenges to enacting your coordinated crisis response and offers recommendations to address each one. Let’s take a look at these four challenges and Grove’s advice on how to lead through change.

Product Alternatives: Figure Out Your Product’s Real Competition

What problem do your customers want to solve by using your product? What would your customers do if they didn’t use your product? April Dunford proposes a 12-step product positioning process—taking you all the way from creating a cross-departmental positioning group to sharing your final positioning across the company—that lets you position any product well. Step 4 in that process is to identify the alternatives to using your product. Keep reading to learn Dunford’s method of identifying product alternatives.

The Map Is Not the Territory: The Limitations of Maps & Models

What does “the map is not the territory” mean? What practical lesson can we learn from this? Alfred Korzybski, a scientist and a philosopher, keenly observed that “the map is not the territory.” He meant that a representation (the map) is not the thing it represents (the territory); it’s merely an abstraction of the thing itself. Continue reading to learn what practical implications this principle has for all of us.

What Is Product Positioning in Marketing—& Why Does It Matter?

What is product positioning in marketing? How important is it in selling your product? If you work in marketing yet still can’t define what “positioning” is, consultant and speaker April Dunford is here to tell you that you’re not alone. She contends that most marketers don’t fully understand what positioning is or its vital importance to selling. Keep reading to learn what positioning is and why it matters.

The Importance of Feedback in the Workplace: Heighten Your Awareness

Is debate encouraged in your company? Is everyone, regardless of position, listened to? Intel CEO Andrew Grove explains how debating and listening can help you become aware of blind spots, improve your decision-making, and recognize when you’re at a strategic inflection point. He offers two pieces of advice that will help you keep an eye on potential market disruptions so you can respond accordingly. Continue reading to learn the importance of feedback in the workplace in regard to strategic inflection points.

What Are Mental Models, and How Do They Work?

What are mental models? Can they actually help you in life in a practical way? In our unpredictable and competitive world, your ability to make good decisions has an exceptional impact on your success in life and work. Fortunately, you can become a skilled decision maker by using mental models. Keep reading to understand how these powerful thinking tools equip you to cut through complexity and understand the world.