Elizabeth Whitworth, Author at Shortform Books

Dealing With Unhealthy Competition in the Workplace

Is your organization rife with ladder-climbing sharks? Are people working together or against each other? According to Tribal Leadership, Stage 3 is the most common work culture, and it’s where most professionals spend much of their careers. Stage 3 features shark-like competition, office politics, and high-powered professionals striving to dominate their workplaces. Authors Dave Logan, Halee Fischer-Wright, and John King explain how to determine whether your organization is in Stage 3 and how to progress to Stage 4. Keep reading to understand unhealthy competition in the workplace and to learn how to move your organization beyond it.

How to Find Your Path in Life & at Work

Why are there so many different rules regarding success? Is there only one way to succeed? In Barking Up the Wrong Tree, peak performance expert Eric Barker explains that the key is often not whether the path to success is right but whether it’s right for you. Therefore, an essential key to success is to know yourself and act accordingly. Different things work for different people, so he outlines a way to figure out what type of person you are (your working style) and what you’re good at (your strengths). Keep reading for Barker’s advice on how to find your

How to Build a Cohesive Team: Stage 4 Culture

What’s Stage 4 culture? What do cohesive teams have in common? How do you create one? According to Tribal Leadership, any organization succeeds or fails on the culture of its tribes—groups of individuals that share ways of thinking, interacting, and working—and we can improve our organizations by upgrading the cultures of those tribes, progressing from one stage to the next. Stage 4 culture involves a cohesive team. Tribal Leadership outlines three characteristics of cohesive teams and three strategies for building one. Keep reading to learn these characteristics and strategies for how to build a cohesive team in your organization.

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: Quotes From the Book

What’s The Almanack of Naval Ravikant about? What are some of the book’s quotes that give insight into the overall message? Many everyday people strive for wealth and happiness, but most of us struggle along the way and very few seem to achieve both. Still fewer share their insights about how to get there. Entrepreneur and self-made millionaire Naval Ravikant has become known for doing this online, via Twitter, podcasts, interviews, and blog posts. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of those insights on wealth and happiness compiled by business blogger Eric Jorgenson. We’ve pulled together several The

Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Quotes by Barker

What’s Barking Up the Wrong Tree about? What quotes from the book capture its essence? It’s hard to tell what the key to success is when so much success advice is contradictory. Some say you should be kind, while others say that being nice is for losers. Some believe you should spend every waking hour at work, while others advise you to focus on work-life balance. In Barking Up the Wrong Tree, peak performance expert Eric Barker examines the research on every option—and shares what he believes are the secrets to success. Keep reading for some of our favorite Barking

Values and Purpose = Your Foundation and Direction

Does your organization have specified values and a clear purpose? Are they known and embraced throughout the organization? Tribal Leadership explores how a tribe or an organization develops, getting stronger and more healthy as it progresses from Stage 1 to Stage 5. At Stage 4, the tribe comes together around shared values and pursues a well-crafted mission. They explicitly recognize themselves as a tribe, and they unify under a strong leader to pursue ambitious goals. According to authors Dave Logan, Halee Fischer-Wright, and John King, a tribe must establish values and purpose to stabilize at Stage 4. Continue reading to

How to Create Wealth: 7 Tips From Naval Ravikant

How important are long-term business relationships when it comes to creating wealth? Should you rely on active income or passive income? Should you specialize or generalize? The Almanack of Naval Ravikant shares Ravikant’s wisdom on creating wealth and achieving financial freedom. He explains the difference between wealth and money, the importance of passive income, three types of leverage, what it means to exercise good judgment in business, and more. Let’s look at seven pieces of Ravikant’s advice on how to create wealth, along with a practical exercise to get you moving in the right direction.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Book Overview

When it comes to success in life, are you barking up the wrong tree? Do you stick with the right things and quit when you should? How’s your work-life balance? In the book Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker discusses why context is king—why the rules for success depend on who you are. He examines interpersonal relationships, reviewing the importance of kindness, networks, and your attitude towards success. He also shares his views on persistence and hard work, namely why you need to stick to some things and quit others and how you can achieve the ideal balance of

Abstracted Empiricism: The Benefits and Flaws

Is abstracted empiricism a constructive approach to social science? What are its flaws? In The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills contends that not all ways of doing social science are equal. He believes that his way (sociological imagination) is the only one that serves the main purpose of social science—preserving freedom. He offers a critique of other approaches, especially abstracted empiricism, asserting that they fail to protect a free and open society in the way sociological imagination does. Keep reading for Mills’s evaluation of abstracted empiricism.

How to Improve Company Culture (Tribal Leadership)

Does your organization’s culture need an upgrade? Are employees unhappy and unproductive? Some organizations are more effective than others. Tribal Leadership authors Dave Logan, Halee Fischer-Wright, and John King contend that culture makes all the difference. Their book is an in-depth exploration of how to improve company culture. To make that improvement, tribal leaders coach their people through five stages. Let’s look at Stage 1 and explore paths you can take to get to Stage 2.