The 4 Components of an Effective Team: A Surprising Combination

The 4 Components of an Effective Team: A Surprising Combination

Who understands what the customer wants? Who can help you mitigate business risks? Who holds the CEO accountable? Entrepreneur Tony Fadell shares his tips for creating a successful product-based business and building a great team. He contends that there are four components of an effective team, and they might not be what you think. Continue reading to learn Fadell’s surprising yet sensible advice.

Poor Decision-Making: Why Mental Illness Isn’t to Blame

Poor Decision-Making: Why Mental Illness Isn’t to Blame

Is poor decision-making a result of mental illness? Why is good mental health bad during a crisis? You may think we got it backward, but we didn’t—mental illness can be good to have during a bad situation, and good mental health is not. That is, at least for influential leaders who are under a lot of pressure. Find out why poor decision-making, mental illness, and crises aren’t all directly connected.

How to Find and Follow Your Inner Compass in 4 Steps

How to Find and Follow Your Inner Compass in 4 Steps

How do you follow your inner compass? Why is it important to identify your inner compass to be an effective leader? According to Mark Divine’s book The Way of the SEAL, your inner compass is the internal force based on your values and goals that guide you. Sticking to these values are imperative for being a great leader in business. Continue reading to learn how to follow your inner compass in just four steps.

How to Build a Product-Based Business: Advice From Tony Fadell

How to Build a Product-Based Business: Advice From Tony Fadell

How do you build a world-changing product-based business? How do you set the right foundation and then weather the storms that come? Entrepreneur Tony Fadell answers these questions and more in Build. The book is part career encyclopedia and part memoir, detailing Fadell’s journey building the iPhone and starting Nest, a smart home device company that he sold to Google for billions. Keep reading to learn how to build a product-based business from a successful business veteran.

How to Build Your Career: The Journey From New Hire to CEO

How to Build Your Career: The Journey From New Hire to CEO

What are the secrets to being successful in your career? What’s the best way to start? How can you finish strong? Entrepreneur Tony Fadell answers these questions and more in Build. The book is part career encyclopedia and part memoir, detailing Fadell’s extraordinary journey inventing the iPhone and then starting his own wildly successful companies. He shares the career lessons he learned along the way. Read more to learn how to build your career, from the bottom to the top.

Experimentation and Innovation: How Testing Unlocks the Future

Experimentation and Innovation: How Testing Unlocks the Future

What’s the relationship between experimentation and innovation? Why is it useful to take things apart? How can you figure out what will work in the future? In The Innovator’s DNA, Hal Gregersen, Jeff Dyer, and Clayton Christensen describe five behaviors and skills—what they call Discovery Skills—that are most likely to generate creative ideas. One of these is experimentation. Read more to understand how experimentation in business is critical for innovation and to learn four ways to experiment with new ideas.

How to Be Mentally Tough: 4 Ways to Build a Thick Skin

How to Be Mentally Tough: 4 Ways to Build a Thick Skin

Why do leaders need to have grit? How can you be mentally tough in the workplace? Grit is a combination of perseverance and passion, meaning that people with grit are resilient to setbacks in order to succeed. It also means being mentally tough because they don’t let anything get in their way. Let’s look at how to be mentally tough, according to The Way of the SEAL by Mark Divine.

Actionable Gamification by Yu-Kai Chou: Book Overview

5 Steps to Practicing Empathy in the Workplace

Looking for an overview of Actionable Gamification by Yu-Kai Chou? Why are businesses turning to game mechanics to motivate customers and employees? Games have the power to unlock deep reserves of human motivation that drive customer and employee behavior. In Actionable Gamification, Yu-Kai Chou explains why many businesses that try to incorporate game elements into their business strategy end up failing. Keep reading for a brief overview of Actionable Gamification by Yu-Kai Chou.

What Are the 5 Discovery Skills? (The Innovator’s DNA)

What Are the 5 Discovery Skills? (The Innovator’s DNA)

How can the five Discovery Skills make you a disruptive innovator? Is it necessary to master all five? What’s the most important one? Creative thinking is crucial to innovation. The authors of The Innovator’s DNA describe five behaviors and skills—what they call “Discovery Skills”—that are most likely to generate creative ideas. These are associative thinking, questioning, observing, idea networking, and experimenting. Keep reading to learn the five Discovery Skills, a couple of important considerations about them, and tips for practicing each one.