Showing results for "Productivity" in Business Ethics

In The 4 Day Week, entrepreneur and business innovator Andrew Barnes makes the case for the four-day week as the answer to many of the ills of the 21st-century global economy. Barnes conducted an experiment in his own business, the New Zealand trust company Perpetual Guardian, and asked his staff to design a four-day week that would permit them to meet their existing productivity requirements on the same salary but with a 20 percent cut in work hours. The outcomes of this trial, which no business leader had previously attempted on these terms, were stunning. 

I have spent countless hours in my college campus library and public library reading about entrepreneurs and writing my notes about how they achieved their successes. Although I graduated with professional degrees and became successful in my career as an educator, speaker, inventor, and a business owner, I wanted to share some keys to success with people around all over the world through the Habits of the Highly Effective Entrepreneur.

Thinking outside the box means applying existing knowledge in new, unexpected ways to come up with new ideas and solutions. This is an essential skill in today’s fast-changing world. But saying “think outside the box” isn’t enough - you have to be aware of the box before you can think outside it. The scientific name for this imaginary box is “mental model”. Mental models are useful because they help you learn. They help you make sense of new information and attach it to your existing knowledge. But, at the same time, they can limit your thinking.