The Consultant and the Coach Podcast

85. Interview of Adam Alter, author of "Anatomy of a Breakthrough"


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Do you ever feel like you're stuck in a rut, unable to break through to the next level of success? Join us as we sit down with author Adam Alter to discuss his latest book "Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most." Drawing on his years of research and expertise in psychology and entrepreneurship, Alter shares practical tips and strategies for overcoming obstacles, embracing your unique strengths, and achieving your goals.
About Adam Alter (from the publisher):
Adam Alter is a professor of marketing, and the Stansky Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He also holds an affiliated professorship in social psychology at NYU’s psychology department. In 2020 he was voted professor of the year by the faculty and student body at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and was among the Poets and Quants 40 Best Professors Under 40 in 2017. Alter is the New York Times bestselling author of two books: Drunk Tank Pink and Irresistible.
About “Anatomy of a Breakthrough” (from the publisher):
A groundbreaking guide to breaking free from the thoughts, habits, jobs, relationships, and even business models that prevent us from achieving our full potential. Almost everyone feels stuck in some way. Whether you’re muddling through a midlife crisis, wrestling writer’s block, trapped in a thankless job, or trying to remedy a fraying friendship, the resulting emotion is usually a mix of anxiety, uncertainty, fear, anger, and numbness. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Anatomy of a Breakthrough is the roadmap we all need to escape our inertia and flourish in the face of friction. Adam Alter has spent the past two decades studying how people become stuck and how they free themselves to thrive. Here he reveals the formula he and other researchers have uncovered. The solution rests on a process that he calls a friction audit—a systematic procedure that uncovers why a person or organization is stuck, and then suggests a path to progress. The friction audit states that people and organizations get unstuck when they overcome three sources of friction: HEART (unhelpful emotions); HEAD (unhelpful patterns of thought); and HABIT (unhelpful behaviors). Despite the ubiquity of friction, there are many great “unstickers” hidden in plain sight among us and Alter shines a light on some exceptional stories to share their valuable lessons with us. He tells us about the sub-elite swimmer who unstuck himself twice to win two Olympic gold medals, the actor who faced countless rejections before gaining worldwide fame, the renowned painter who became paralyzed and had to relearn to paint with a brush strapped to his wrist, and Alter’s own story of getting unstuck from a college degree that made him deeply unhappy. Artfully weaving together scientific studies, anecdotes, and interviews, Alter teaches us that getting stuck is a feature rather than a glitch on the road to thriving, but with the right tweaks and corrections we can reach even our loftiest targets.
Buy the book: https://amzn.to/3O1c0Bb
Follow Adam on Twitter: https://bit.ly/41rapYa
Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/44Mncr5
Check out Adam’s webpage: https://bit.ly/3BcG3OE
Podcast published May 9, 2023
Podcast video available here: https://youtu.be/z2Efn9_XIs4
Check us out at https://theconsultantandthecoach.com/, shoot us an email at [email protected], or follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ConsultCoachWin
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The Consultant and the Coach PodcastBy TheConsultantandtheCoach