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Upskill with the world’s most influential books in bite-sized lessons.

Building Good Habits

Ace Your Game As An Entrepreneur

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Insights On Decision Making

INSIGHTS FROM BEST-SELLING BOOKS

Upskill with business leaders, subject matter experts and faculty from top universities.

Lessons On Strategy

Lessons On Decision Making

Career Development

What You Can Learn From

Lessons From Business Partnerships That Changed The World

INSIGHTS FROM FACULTY & EXPERTS

Insights On Innovation

Bringing New Technology To Market, By Kathleen R. Allen

Creativity, Inc. By Ed Catmull, Amy Wallace, Et Al

The Innovator's Dilemma: Clayton Christensen

Ten Types Of Innovation: Larry Keeley, Ryan Pikkel, Helen Walters, And Brian Quinn

Driving Innovation From Within By Kaihan Krippendorff

Innovative Leadership Fieldbook By Maureen Metcalf And Mark Palmer

Lessons From Indian Management Guru's

Lessons On Crisis Management

Lessons On Marketing

Lessons From Founders Over 30

Lessons From Famous Families

Lessons From Unusual Leaders

Team Building 

Lessons On Change Management

Lessons From Rising Leaders

Lessons From Big Brands

Lessons From Failures That Led To Success

People Management

Learning Data Science

Lessons On Time Management

Lessons On Business Analytics 

Leadership Essentials

Lessons On Personal Development

Lessons On Communication

Business Planning

Lessons On Productivity

Modules From Columbia Business School

Modules From Tuck Executive Education

Startups like Paypal, Amazon and Apple have shown the world that it is possible to create something from nothing, as they went from zero to creating massive global corporations. But is it possible for others to ensure their startups are a success? In his book, Zero to One, co-written with Blake Masters, billionaire entrepreneur, co-founder of Paypal and legendary investor, Peter Thiel, explains how new businesses can take singular steps to ensure success. Stay tuned!

Zero To One: Blake Masters And Peter Thiel

Legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shares his personal experiences of founding Paypal and investing in Facebook to argue that that every formula for innovation should be unique to be truly successful. Learn why you need to chart an entrepreneurial path that is new and untested, in order to build a successful startup.

Find out how to zero in on a new business idea and understand why creating your own unique path offers more opportunities for growth that copying something that already exists. Stay tuned!

When considering a new business venture, don’t follow the herd; look beyond the obvious and find opportunities hiding in plain sight to find success.

Thiel and Blake advise businesses against spending their energy trying to be one up on competition. Find out why Thiel warns against competition in this episode.

When starting a business, don’t waste your time or effort on competing with incumbent players in a crowded market, it will take focus away from building your business, acquiring more customers, and creating better products.

Notwithstanding their reputation, Thiel argues that monopolies are good for business and society. Find out about his reasoning and four crucial characteristics that makes monopolies successful in this episode.

If you can create something innovative that consumers did not know they needed, it will spur further innovation and help make your monopoly successful.

Along with an innovative offering, you need a deliberate strategy to capture substantial market share. This video offers a three-step guide to building an enduring monopoly.

To build a monopolistic business, pick a niche and focus on becoming a leader there, then make incremental advances.

To stay in the race for the long run, starting right is critical. Take a look at the non-negotiables that help build the right foundation for your start-up, in this episode.

Set the right foundation for your startup by partnering with known people, keeping the team lean and giving stock options against contribution to ensure maximum commitment from your staff.

Getting full-time, committed employees, who are aligned with your goals is critical for a startup. But how do you get such talent? This video offers some suggestions.

Attract the right people by giving them compelling, specific reasons to join the company that center around work. Truly committed people are excited by their work offering, rather than office perks like free massages or pool tables.

Just answering seven questions honestly about the market and your venture can help you predict if your startup will find success or fade into the oblivion. This video tells you what they are.

Seven Questions Every Startup Must Answer

To evaluate the merit of your startup idea, ask yourself if your innovative offering uncovers a secret that solves a fundamental problem for the customer in a manner that no one else can.

In this course, Rob Salafia, a principal at thoughtLEADERS, LLC, will share an approach for launching your own small business with minimal investment. He will draw insights from the book The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau. You will learn how to provide true value to customers, identify who your ideal customers are, craft a compelling offer, and promote and grow your business.

Starting your own business can occur at the intersection of what you’re passionate about, what you’re good at, and what people will pay for. This course will provide you with the fundamental approaches for defining your business, your market, and how you provide value. Rob Salafia will explain how to define your value in a way that resonates with customers and helps your business grow.

The fundamentals of building a micro-business are a product, a market, a passion, and some skills that you can apply to the business world. After watching this video, you will be able to identify where these three components intersect and a business could exist.

Building your business requires you to make a connection between your skill, your passion, and a market need or pain point. If you can do that, you’ve got the makings of a viable business. After watching this video, you will understand how to identify where these three components intersect for you.

Your business idea should give customers something they want or solve a problem for them in a convenient way. After watching this video, you will understand how to look at value from a customer’s perspective.

Creating a connection for your customers between your product’s features and how those features make them feel will help you clearly articulate your business’ value. After watching this video, you will be able to differentiate between the features of your product and the benefits it provides.

The better you know who your ideal customer is, the better the chances are that you can build a product or service that truly meets their needs. After watching this video, you will have several techniques you can apply to better understand your ideal customer.

With customer input and an understanding of their needs, you’ll be able to more effectively target your product to them when you take it to market. After watching this video, you’ll understand how to define and identify your key customer segments.

Business launch and getting your first sale are more important than making sure everything about your microbusiness is perfect from the beginning. After watching this video, you will be able to strike a better balance between planning and taking action.

It’s important to refine your market segmentation, marketing channels, messaging, and product until you get the marketing response you want. After watching this video, you will have a clearer sense of how to market to your target customers.

A well-crafted offer should cover the benefits customers care about, draw them in as an invitation to buy, and overcome their concerns with buying from you. After watching this video, you will be able to craft a more compelling offer for your product.

It’s critical to get your offer messaging right. The best product or service in the world won’t go anywhere if the offer’s messaging is confusing or unclear. After watching this video, you will be able to clarify your offer’s messaging and create a list of FAQs.

There are many ways to promote your business without spending money on advertising. After watching this video, you will be able to identify multiple techniques and channels for promoting your business for minimal cost.

To build a loyal customer base, you need to get the word out about your product and stay in touch with your customers. After watching this video, you will understand several techniques for communicating and building relationships with your customers.

There are several great approaches to growing your business including, upselling, cross-selling, pricing, and additional services. After watching this video, you will have a good sense of some of the growth options that are available to your business.

Growing your business requires you to choose growth strategies that are consistent with your product and your customers’ needs. After watching this video, you will be able to identify possible growth levers you can use to scale your business.

In this course, you'll learn how to stand out as a remote employee. Expert and top-rated speaker Bianca Lager will share the basic logistics and tools you'll need to succeed. You'll learn how to create a plan, and set proper boundaries. You'll also learn how to improve your communications, deal with conflict, and improve your relationship with your manager.

How To Stand Out Remotely By Bianca Lager

Today's workplace involves working from anywhere. And although this permits a lot of freedom and flexibility, it can be easy to feel like you're lost in the shuffle. After this course, you'll be able to employ strategies and skills to help yourself shine in a remote environment.

Workplaces come in many forms. After this lesson, you'll be able to interface with different types of non-traditional workspaces and workers.

Your workspace is your productivity sanctuary and doubles as your video studio. After watching this course, you'll be able to thrive in an organized and camera-ready environment.

From Slack and Zoom to webcam tips, after this lesson, you'll be able to employ various tools to enhance your remote presence.

Module 3: The Self Care Guide For Remote Workers

The key to success in remote work is structure. After watching this lesson, you'll be able to leverage a blueprint for creating an effective remote work game plan.

All extremely successful people have one thing in common - a strong morning routine. After this lesson, you'll be able to craft a remote work morning routine and set yourself up for success.

The more guidance and boundaries you provide, the fewer misunderstandings will occur and the more smoothly work can stay on track. After this video, you'll be able to apply a framework for successful remote work boundaries.

When working remotely, it can become easy for things to fall to the wayside or to forget important details. After this lesson, you'll be able to leverage several different tools and task managers to help you keep track of all of the different items on your plate.

Your relationship with your colleagues is always a vital part of a successful career. After this lesson, you'll be able to adopt a strategy to strengthen relationships while working remotely.

Out of all your work relationships, the one with your manager is pivotal to your success and happiness. After this lesson, you'll be able to utilize a guide for how to create and maintain a strong relationship with your manager.

Not having clear boundaries is one of the fastest ways to lose track of your time when managing a team. After this lesson, you'll be able to set clear boundaries with your team in order to help you stay on top of your own bandwidth while also being able to support your team.

If you have been tasked with leading, hosting or creating online events is part of the territory. After this lesson, you'll be able to host creative, fun, and engaging virtual meetups with your team.

Keeping your remote team on track and productive starts with strong leadership. After watching this video, you'll be able to tailor your communications for your remote team.

On or off camera, your remote presence is felt by others. After this lesson, you'll be able to use a toolkit of skills to ensure that you stand out.

Inevitably, workplaces are prone to misunderstandings, and the remote workplace is no exception. After watching this video, you'll be able to resolve conflicts as they arise.

Positivity gets you a long way in the virtual world, but there are some behaviors that can sink that effort fast. After this lesson, you'll be able to avoid any habits that could give you a bad reputation.

Now that you've finished this course, you should feel confident in your ability to make your presence shine in a virtual work environment. Thanks for watching!

Mel Robbins, a successful motivational speaker, and author, discovered The High 5 Habit when she was going through a tough phase. In this series, digital strategy consultant and author Clark Boyd provides you with the necessary tools to improve your relationship with yourself. In this series, you will realize the importance of the high five, move from a phase of self-criticism to self-love, and will learn how to replace negative feelings with positive ones.

If you are a person who hasn’t cheered for yourself or think that you are not worth celebrating, motivational public speaker Mel Robbins’ The High 5 Habit is your go-to book. This course will not only push you to appreciate the real You, but will also arm you with the necessary tools to practice the High 5 Habit which will result in you leading a holistic life filled with self-love, self-belief, and self-worth. In this episode, understand how Mel Robbins created the concept of the High 5 Habit.

The High 5 Habit is a simple yet powerful tool that helps you love and celebrate yourself. By the end of this episode, you will have a clear understanding of the High 5 Habit, and the steps you need to follow to make this a must-do daily habit.

Do you want to know how something as simple as a high five could bring about a sea of change in your perspective about yourself and your attitude? After finishing this episode, you will understand why, as well as how science and research have validated this habit.

Would you believe it if you were told that practicing the High 5 Habit will change your brain at the structural level? Mel Robbins has done the research for us. After finishing this episode, you will have a better understanding of how you can bring about positive changes in your brain by practicing the High 5 Habit.

Although we were born with self-love, it has almost become an alien concept for most of us. When did self-criticism take over? After finishing this episode, you will find out the reasons for this change.

It is important that you stop criticizing yourself if you do not want to feel discouraged and demotivated. After finishing this episode, you will be better acquainted with the reasons regarding why it is important to stop self-criticism and start self-love.

Now that you know why it is important to stop self-criticism, in this episode we will perform a small activity to help you put this theory into practice.

“I can’t do this, I am a wreck, I am ugly.” Do you know what these are? These are negative thoughts that have the power to become a reality if repeated. By the end of this episode, you will not only learn to train your mind to move away from these self-limiting thoughts but will also train it to look for things that you want to see, that make you happy, and that lead you to your dreams.

Replace Old Negative Beliefs With Positive Ones

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) in your brain plays an important role when it comes to your negative thoughts. After finishing this episode, you will have a fair idea of how you can train your RAS to find the things in the world that are important to you.

Replace Old Negative Beliefs With Positive Ones - Part 2

As we learned in the previous episode, your RAS can be trained to work for you. In this episode, you will learn to put this process into practice by performing a small activity.

Replace Old Negative Beliefs With Positive Ones - Activity

Mel Robbins recommends a three-step process to help change the negative thoughts in your head and encourage the need to take action. By the end of this episode, you will be well versed in changing your negative thoughts into positive ones and finally taking action.

Replace Old Negative Beliefs With Positive Ones - Part 3

In a continuation from the last episode, in this episode you will learn and develop the method and process for changing your negative thoughts into positive ones and finally taking action.

Replace Old Negative Beliefs With Positive Ones - Part 3 (Contd.)

You now have the knowledge and the tools to start changing your life. However, there will be times when you feel emotionally and mentally low, and your High 5 attitude sinks. Mel Robbins can assist you in tackling this problem. After finishing this episode, you will be able to identify your emotional triggers, you will learn how to overcome jealousy, and will understand how to flip your jealousy into inspired action.

Identify The Emotional Triggers - Jealousy

As human beings, we are prone to feel guilt. Instead of burdening yourself with guilt, Mel Robbins shows you how to flip it and take control of your life. By the end of this episode, you will be better equipped to deal with your guilt and flip your guilt into a positive.

Most of us have big dreams, but we tend to put them off due to the fear of failing. After finishing this episode, you will have a fair understanding of the tools that you can implement to tackle your fears and take action.

Your insecurities can cause you to change yourself to fit in and be liked. Your insecurities can also result in anxiety. By the end of this episode, you will be better acquainted with your insecurities, and will also realize the importance of putting yourself first.

Identify The Emotional Triggers - Insecurity And Anxiety

A High 5 morning teaches you to put yourself first before everything else. There are a few simple steps (or promises) that you need to follow to ensure that you experience a High 5 morning. At the end of this episode, you will have learned the steps that you need to follow to experience a High 5 morning, which leads to a High 5 day, and finally a High 5 life!

You've learned about the High 5 Habit, how to love and empower yourself, and finally how to change your negative beliefs and emotions into positive action. In this final episode of the series, take a look back at a summary of all that you have learned and developed.

Motivated To Start Giving Yourself A High 5?

Know more about the author of a Chinese tome that has survived two and a half millennia and continues to be pertinent. Sun Tzu's book, written well before modern warfare technology and tactics came into force, finds application in the business world today.

A SWOT analysis is the first strategy you can learn from Sun Tzu. Find out how Japanese company Komatsu outwitted US giant Caterpillar with the 'Know yourself and your enemy' maxim.

Know your own strengths and weaknesses as well as your competitors'. Learn from their success and existing challenges and find potential opportunities for yourself.

What inspires loyalty and unwavering devotion towards the job? Treating your human resources like you would your favorite son, says Sun Tzu. Take the example of Steve Jobs and how he nurtured his team at Apple.

To inspire loyalty, treat your people like your own family. When your employees trust and believe in you, they will be more committed, dependable and consistent.

The general is to blame if the command is not clear, believes Sun Tzu. If you are the one sending out the directive, make sure your language, tone and non-verbal cues are in tune with the message. The onus of clarity lies with the sender, not the receiver.

Responsibility for successful communication lies with the sender. It requires planning across the four key components: the sender, medium, environment, and receiver.

Sun Tzu advocates a do-or-die attitude on the battlefield, where the only option should be winning. Modern management principles can apply a similar strategy but sometimes it is better to be prepared with a plan B while maintaining a strong front.

Your Plan B can be prudent or a burden. For focus and efficiency, you may want to sometimes go forward with total commitment, as if Plan A were the only option.

You have to be a master of deception to fool competition. Sun Tzu suggests having a few tricks up the sleeves to make competitors constantly look over their shoulders trying to guess your next move and thus fall foul of their game.

Deception can help gain market advantages. It involves convincing your competition that you're pursuing one strategy, only to pursue another.

What management lesson can the boa constrictor deliver? Plenty, according to Sun Tzu. Then there are many other varieties such as the Chinese shuai-jan that can teach different tactics of the art of corporate warfare.

All parts of a company must be ready to defend each other from competitors' attacks. To do so, each part must understand how the others operate.

Find innovative ways of disrupting the mundane, with it one can achieve great heights despite the glitches and general chaos in the world. The impact that the flutter of a butterfly's wings can cause is used as an allegory for change. Are you up for it?

Business often involves finding ways to make small improvements towards bigger gains. Look for ways to combine existing assets to improve processes and customer offerings.

Sometimes it is smarter to not go to war, says Sun Tzu. Surprised? No, he is not asking you to put your weapons down, instead, he wants you to be better prepared to outwit the enemy, in your case, the competitor in a way that makes war redundant.

The best way to build markets is through creativity and preparation, not direct aggression. Ultimately, aggressive competition is bad for customers, and without customers, there is no business.

In this series, Mike Figliuolo takes us through essential leadership lessons that enhance productivity and organization efficiency. You'll learn how expressing gratitude, communicating with subordinates, and setting clear goals will help you run your team more effectively. Figliuolo is the managing director at thoughtLEADERS LLC — a leadership and training firm — and the author of multiple books on leadership and communication.

Learn how expressing gratitude and saying a small "thank you' to a subordinate can make a huge difference in organization growth and employee productivity.

Never underestimate the power of saying "thanks" to a subordinate. It can make a huge difference in organization growth and employee productivity.

Inconsistency by team leaders can be frustrating. Understand the importance of making firm decisions and then sticking to them.

Inconsistency by team leaders can be frustrating. Making decisions and sticking to them saves time and frustration for everyone, including you.

Learn how to set up clear goals and set direction. This will help both individual employee and the larger organization run systematically and smoothly.

A clear plan helps focus your team. Set direction and communicate it often so that team members share the mission.

The clearer your communication, the better the productivity. Understand why it is critical to let your colleagues know your thoughts.

Don't underestimate how much your team members listen to you. Communicate your thoughts and expectations clearly and frequently to avoid misunderstandings and uncertainty.

How will challenging your subordinates give them space to grow? Learn how you can give them opportunities that make them believe in themselves.

Don't hesitate to give team members new challenges. It will help them grow and make the team stronger too.

What does it take to make your passion your vocation and then ensure that it stays that way? Leadership trainer Paul Smith shows you how through five case studies that talk about how to sustain excitement for your job. Smith is a speaker and leadership trainer specializing in storytelling techniques and has authored books such as Sell with a Story and The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell.

Uninspired by what his new position entailed, Paul Smith recounts how a story his friend narrated made his job seem more meaningful.

You can’t order people to love their job. But you can help them find passion for what they're doing by sharing inspiring stories with them.

See what marketing toilet paper taught Paul Smith about changing behavior. In a nutshell: Permit yourself to be creative in what you do.

Work can be more creative than it seems. Look for the right stories to encourage risk taking and exploring different ideas.

Thinking about the meaning your work brings to the lives of others can give you a sense of purpose.

Stories teach understanding and empathy. You can ignite team members' passion for their products with inspiring stories from customers.

Value the time of your team as much as you do yours as leader. Those marathon Monday meetings that help you stay up to speed? No, they are not working.

Survey your department and ask them what the worst parts of their job are. Ask them what changes they would make if they were boss for a day.

As a leader, watch out for negative stories damaging your organization. They can strike a toxic note. Use positive stories to quash the negative ones.

Stories can be damaging to an organization when they're negative or wrong. Use the power of positive stories to squelch the toxic rumor mill.

Now that you know the importance of helping yourself and others find passion with a positive story, Paul Smith has a parting gift: 3 tips on how to find the right stories.

To find stories that can generate passion, mine your own experiences and draw from others in your team. Try a fun story contest, for one.

Deciding to quit your job is not easy and you will need all the practical help you can get to get through this process. Leadership trainer Paul Smith breaks it down for you in this five-part series. Smith is a speaker and leadership trainer specializing in storytelling techniques and has authored books such as Sell with a Story and The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell.

Before you decide to quit, it is important to understand why you are doing it. Pen down the reasons that make you want to leave.

Before deciding whether to quit your job or not, define your quitting criteria. A good place to start is: are you still passionate about what you do?

Paul Smith walks you through a representative checklist of quitting criteria, including better compensation, bigger title, or a retirement plan.

Career Planning;Decision Making;Growth Strategy;Influence;Innovation;Managing Yourself;Motivation;Retirement;Strategic Planning;Strategic Thinking;Strategy Execution;Paul Smith;Passionate Work;Promotions;Positive;Support Family;Reasonable Criteria;Opportunity

Once you've identified what you're looking for, you don't have to quit immediately. One idea is to start gradually by pursuing your passion part-time.

The best way to test your quitting criteria is with a test run. Try it out on a part-time basis, and see if it meets your criteria. If your schedule doesn't allow for this, consider asking your current employer for reduced pay and work hours.

Be patient as you test your quitting criteria. Keeping watching for whether your role or job is ticking all the boxes.

Make sure your partner is comfortable with your decision to follow your passion by checking for financial stability, assessing risk of failure and a commitment to go back to your old career if this doesn't work.

Paul Smith shares a heartwarming story about his father -- how it is better to chase your dream today than live with the regret of not achieving your full potential.

Someone else in your life probably also wants you to pursue your dream—a parent, spouse, child, mentor. Do it for them too.

Designer and author Ayse Birsel lets us into her world of innovation and joining her are leading thought leaders who provide a map to build a meaningful future. The series offers insights from Birsel's interviews with prolific thinkers such as Stuart Crainer, Marshall Goldsmith, Dorie Clark, Rita McGrath, Sanyin Siang, and Alex Osterwalder.

One-third of our life is spent working. So, who is to blame if we don't love our work? Ayse Birsel interviewed top-ranking management leaders to analyze the work they love and maximize more out of their days. It is as applicable to 13-year-olds as it is to someone who turned 90.

Meet Ayse Birsel, The Creator Of The 'Design The Work You Love' Concept

Ayse says that she loves helping people design the life and work they love. She believes that our life and work are our biggest projects.

Stuart Crainer loves that he can create something from nothing. There's a catch though, not all about the work is exciting. There's a fair amount of drudgery involved too. His idea of getting more done? Saying 'no' more often to uninteresting work.

Stuart Crainer And The Work He Loves To Do

Stuart loves creating something from nothing. In the context of Thinkers50, which he co-founded with Des Dearlove, he works on creating ideas with impact.

Being able to help people deliver their ideas inspires Dorie Clark. She guarantees better engagement if you pick fun things you love to do and turn them into projects. To kick this off, she suggests setting a target and holding oneself accountable to it. Learn how to turn constraints into opportunities too.

Dories helps people get their message heard so they can make the difference they were meant to make. She says she is like a sculptor chiseling things away so what is left is essential.

For author Rita McGrath learning and exploring outweigh other concerns. It is not surprising then that she takes every opportunity to read a lot and engage with others to develop fresh perspectives. Find out why rocket scientist Sylvia Acevedo is her inspiration.

Rita McGrath And The Work She Loves To Do

Rita loves to constantly read, learn and talk to people to figure out what’s next. She says knowing her values helps her have fantastic days at work.

Sanyin Siang helps people thrive in times of uncertainty and she loves enabling greatness in others. Constraints create possibilities. Siang wants you to collaborate with others to maximize your superpowers and "be like water". Find out why.

Sanyin Siang And The Work She Loves To Do

Sanyin loves the fact that she enables greatness in others and seeing them grow towards their best self. Her motto is "be like water" to bust through obstacles.

Alex Osterwalder loves to create business tools that impact people. A ritual he swears by is blocking time with himself, hours and even days, to "air out" the brain and create new ideas. Sharing these fledgling ideas helps get feedback and map future steps. His hero? Prince, here’s why.

Alex Ostwalder And The Work He Loves To Do

Alex loves creating business tools and concepts with impact to help business people do a better job. He tries things out and has fun in the process.

Executive educator Marshall Goldsmith loves to help successful leaders achieve positive and lasting change. What's the one daily habit that inspires him? What is the one challenge he is struggling with? There's more you can learn from this episode.

Marshall Goldsmith And The Work He Loves To Do

Marshall loves his work because it helps successful people become even better and he believes it is the biggest difference that he can make. In this, he says he is like a new-age monk.

Leadership coach Bill Lawry teaches how to be more proactive in your career path to reach your goals. Whether it is busting myths, staying on course or steering towards the vision, this series enables you to finally take charge of your career.

5 Ways To Simplify A Complex Problem

5 Ways To Simplify A Complex Problem

5 Ways To Simplify A Complex Problem

Episodes

1. Define The Problem, Success And Decisions Needed

2. Issues Causing The Problem

3. Check If Your Answer Changes

4. Focus On Meaningful Issues And Ideas

5. Solve The Issue And Reassess The Problem