Shortform Books

How to Build a Strong Teamwork Culture

How important is a teamwork culture in your organization? What are some things you can do to establish a strong culture of teamwork and cooperation? For organizations committed to a teamwork culture, hiring the right people and encouraging team spirit is key. According to Patrick Lencioni, the author of The Ideal Team Player, the key to developing a strong teamwork culture in an organization is to hire natural team players who possess the following three qualities: being humble, hungry, and smart. Besides helping individuals become humble, hungry, and smart, it’s important to embed these values in your company’s culture. Here

Effortless Love Is a Myth: Love Takes Work

Do you believe in effortless love? Or do you think that love takes work? According to psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, effortless love is a myth. Genuine love takes work, and work requires attention. He argues that listening with full attention is a critical act of genuine love for parenting and other types of relationships. He also discusses when love isn’t worth the effort. Keep reading to better understand how and why love takes work.

Discount Marketing: The Ultimate Strategy

What is discount marketing? How can you create effective discounts that make customers spend more? People love to save money, so creating an attention-grabbing discount is an effective marketing strategy. This discount can’t just be an “okay” saving that doesn’t really stand out. If it is, people will take advantage of the deal themselves, but probably won’t tell others about it. For a discount to be worthy of sharing, it needs to be truly amazing. Find our guide to effective discount marketing below.

The Role of Banks in the Economy: Explained

How to be Rich and Successful: 3 Steps to Follow

What purpose do banks serve? How do banks contribute to the greater good of economic agents (firms and consumers)? Banks serve a number of important roles in an economy. First, banks guard money and provide businesses with credits for large investments which allow businesses to operate on a large scale, driving down costs and standards of living. Of course, banks also lend to individual consumers to finance their purchases, which fuels the demand for goods and services. In this article, we’ll discuss the role of banks in the economy and how they are regulated.

Can’t Relax? Try Slowing Down Your Tempo

Are you always tense and agitated? Do you have difficulty relaxing and just “muting” your problems for even a short time? People have difficulty relaxing and this stops them from living a full life. If you are always on edge and can’t relax easily, try to slow down: consciously do everything more easily, slowly, and without pressure. Here are some relaxation tips from Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking.

The 3 Elements of Change: Set Yourself Up for Success

What is the key to changing an undesirable behavior and making the change last? Is there a formula behind a successful behavior change? Successful change involves certain patterns that you can intentionally engineer to significantly improve your change success rate. According to Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, there are three elements of behavior change: 1) the rational you, 2) the emotional you, and 3) the path forward. Keep reading to learn about the three elements of change.

The Dot-Com Bubble: What Went Wrong?

What was the dot-com bubble? Why did this economic bubble burst? The dot-com bubble was an economic bubble beginning in the late 1990s, caused by speculation and optimism about the rise of the internet. Although many “dot-com” companies had no earnings, shares prices were excessively high. Eventually, the “dot-com” bubble burst, with disastrous consequences for many companies. Learn about the dot-com bubble below.

The Hacker’s Diet: The Simple Guide to Weight Loss

What is The Hacker’s Diet about? What is the key, according to its author John Walker, to successful weight loss? The Hacker’s Diet was written by John Walker, founder of software company Autodesk. This is an engineer’s approach to weight loss, described in terms of control systems, feedback loops, measurement noise reduction, and practical problem-solving. Here is a breakdown of Walker’s advice from The Hacker’s Diet.

How to Be More Resilient: The Best 4 Strategies

Are you constantly analyzing yourself? Do you try to avoid or repress negative emotions? Do you feel powerless in your life? If you answered yes to these questions, you need to learn how to be more resilient. In her book The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown offers four strategies for building resilience that will lead to a better mental state and more happiness in your life. Continue reading for Brené Brown’s advice on how to be more resilient.

Understanding the Psychology of Learning

How do we learn? What are the processes that allow us to encode knowledge into the brain? Psychologists conceptualize three stages of learning: 1) encoding, 2) consolidation, and 3) retrieval. At the encoding stage, the brain creates mental representations of the information. Then, it consolidates it by transferring it from short-term to long-term memory. Finally, it cements the knowledge to make it available for retrieval. Learn more about the psychology of learning, what happens at each stage, and how new information is embedded in the brain at the cellular level.