A few years ago I had lost a bet with a friend and, against my wishes, was accompanying her to an improv workshop as payment. I say against my wishes because to me, improv is the ultimate in anxiety-producing situations. You’re performing before an audience with no preparation, trying to get a laugh. And you’re…
You have a spark of genius in you. We all do. It’s not the result of you being smarter than everyone else. It’s the result of you being different from everyone else. No one else has walked your path. No one else has your distinctive mix of anxieties, experiments, scars, disasters, and triumphs. No one…
Originally published July 2, 2015 on Harvard Business Review by Doug Sundheim Your team has identified an important goal to hit, challenge to be addressed, or opportunity to be pursued. You call a meeting or two, set objectives, put a plan together, and start to execute. Everything looks good on paper. But then your plan…
I feel inundated with complexity these days. So many competing perspectives on nearly every topic where I need to make a decision. At best it wastes valuable time. At worst it paralyzes me. Here are a couple inner monologues from rat holes I’ve meandered down in the last week: Where should I publish my writing?…
The seeds of courage come from seeing the world through others’ eyes. When you take the time to see the world through your others’ eyes, it changes your perspective in nuanced and powerful ways. You see firsthand what excites them, annoys them, perplexes them, or scares them. Patterns jump out at you. You see where, why, and how…
One of the biggest determinants of success for any leader or leadership team is efficacy of decision making. When leaders are good at it, it drives momentum and growth. When they’re bad at it, mucks up all sorts of critical success drivers in an organization (see diagram below). Please join me June 30 at the Norwalk…
It’s hard to attend a business meeting these days without the term “best practices” being bandied about. Best practices in social media. Best practices in cyber security. Best practices in performance management. If it’s a hot topic, chances are someone has figured out the current “best” way to do it. On the surface it’s hard…
Originally published October 22, 2014 on Harvard Business Review by Doug Sundheim Successful innovators care about solving interesting and important problems — innovation is merely a byproduct. If this distinction seems like hair-splitting, it isn’t. The two focuses create vastly different realities. Focusing on innovating — as a worthy goal unto itself — tends to…
© 2024 The Sundheim Group. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy