Shortform Books

How to Inspire a Shared Vision in Your Team

Does your team share in your vision of your organization’s way forward? What can you do to inspire a common vision in the people you lead? People are naturally drawn to leaders who inspire a shared vision of a better world because they want to feel like they are a part of something important. In their book The Leadership Challenge, bestselling authors and long-time research partners James Kouzes and Barry Posner outline two guidelines for inspiring a shared vision in your team: 1) envision a positive future, and 2) get others on board. Here is how you can inspire a shared

The Impacts of Urbanization on the Family Unit

What was the impact of urbanization on the family unit? How did the shift from rural to urban life affect masculinity in particular? In No More Mr. Nice Guy, Dr. Robert Glover looks at the history of masculinity and the decline of positive associations with masculinity. He cites urbanization as one of the key factors influencing this, and also shows the effect of urbanization on the family unit as a whole. Keep reading to find out the impact of urbanization on the family.

How to Kickstart a Great Coaching Conversation

How should a coaching conversation begin? How can you start a session on the right foot? The Coaching Habit by Michael Stanier discusses seven questions that all coaches should ask. The first question sets the stage for the coaching conversation, so it is crucial. It fits well with the book’s underlying principle to say less and ask more. Keep reading to learn how to kickstart an effective coaching conversation.

6 Effective Study Techniques (Plus 3 Note-Taking Tips)

What are some effective study techniques you can implement to learn anything? How can you take better notes? Limitless author Jim Kwik shares six effective study techniques to help you accomplish limitless learning in any area of life. He also provides three tips for taking good notes. Keep reading to learn effective study techniques and note-taking methods.

Living a Designed Life: How to Apply Design Thinking

What difference would it make if you applied design thinking to your life? How do you build a designed life? A core principle of design thinking is that you make progress by building, not just by thinking. Design thinking requires five mental attitudes: curiosity, experimentation, reframing, embracing process, and deep teamwork. When you apply these to your life, you get back more than you put in. Read more to learn how to build a designed life.

To Make Big Leaps, Get Comfortable With Uncertainty

How comfortable with uncertainty are you? Is a fear of uncertainty holding you back? Uncertainty plays a crucial role in science because things often don’t conform to scientists’ expectations. When things don’t go according to plan, scientists learn something new. They are comfortable with uncertainty, because they know it can lead to amazing discoveries. Read more to learn how comfort with uncertainty can lead to big things in your own life.

Why the Asian Tigers’ Economies Collapsed in the 90s

How did the Asian Tigers’ economies grow so fast? What development strategies did they employ to spearhead their economic growth? And why did their economies start to collapse in the 1990s? Some economists attribute the growth of the Asian Tigers to unrestricted free markets. However, the Tigers owed their growth to heavy government intervention, and strict policies preventing foreigners from owning land or national firms. The trouble began when an unsubstantiated rumor spread that Thailand couldn’t sustain its currency, which triggered a chain of domino reactions that led to the near-collapse of the Asian Tigers’ economies. In this article, we’ll

Ramit Sethi: How to Make More Money Investing

Do you want to level up your investing game? What are some things you can do to increase your investment earnings? Once you start seeing your investments grow—even by a little bit—you’ll start thinking about how to feed your financial growth even further. According to Ramit Sethi, the author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich, the first step to leveling up your investment game is to define a concrete reason for growing your wealth. Otherwise, you’ll risk what Sethi calls “living in the spreadsheet”: becoming so fixated on making money that you forget the purpose of having money

How to Use the Tetris Effect to Improve Your Mindset

What is the Tetris Effect? How can it be used to make positive thinking a habit? The Tetris Effect describes the phenomenon where regular players of the game began to see objects in their everyday lives as shapes that they needed to fit into gaps. Similarly, the more you engage in certain patterns of thinking, the more likely you are to use them again. Find out how you can use the Tetris Effect to improve your mindset.

4 Tips for Selling Yourself Successfully to Customers

Why must you master the art of selling yourself? How do you sell yourself? Selling yourself effectively is crucial to convincing customers that you believe in the product you are promoting to them. Buyers will sense your lack of conviction if you don’t know how to sell yourself. You sell yourself successfully by having an unyielding conviction in the superiority of the product you are selling and truly believing that not buying your product from you is the worst decision of someone’s life. Read on to learn more about selling yourself to customers.