Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

Why do so many leaders scream "INNOVATE!"? Why do so many teams treat innovation like a bunch of random stunts or infrequent, radical changes? It always feels too urgent or too last-minute when we finally evolve. Why? What if there was a better way? What would it REALLY take to make innovation a habit, not a Hail Mary?

Re-releasing three popular stories for the holiday travel and downtime around the Fourth of July, 2019. Enjoy!

Re-releasing three popular stories for the holiday travel and downtime around the Fourth of July, 2019. Enjoy!

Re-releasing three popular stories for the holiday travel and downtime around the Fourth of July, 2019. Enjoy!

Consistently great work consistently changes. Does yours? The tale of one of history's most revered creators, and his lesser-known origin story that we can all learn from. What does it take to adapt and evolve with the ever-changing times?

Revisiting an old favorite in light of some new events. There's a major shift happening in marketing that few are talking about. Instead, we talk about the industry's reactions to that shift. What if we looked the actual change in the eye? What great work might we create then?

"But my boss." It's the most common objection to doing better work. Today, we find a framework that can help us do the seemingly unthinkable: have an open, honest conversation, rather than avoiding conflict, in order to create consistently great things as an individual and a team. (Featuring Max Yoder, author of Do Better Work, and cofounder/CEO of Lessonly.)

Continuing our behind-the-scenes miniseries, we talk to Sarah Cooper: comedian, writer, author of the books 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings and the new one, How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men's Feelings. We dive into how a standup comedy act takes shape, what gets changed over time, and what we can learn about creating consistently great work from standups.

How do we bring our full selves to our work, when a lot of that work feels like a slog? Even if we love our jobs, so much of what we do each day can repeat. We show up, we execute, and we repeat. Over and over again. Today, the story of the Boston-based venture capitalist Sarah Downey of Accomplice. The self-proclaimed nerd loves sci-fi, fantasy, and most of geek culture. Yet despite her role in tech, being her true self at work wasn't always welcome. Recently, she decided to unite her love for startups and Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's a project that forces her to bring herself -- her FULL self -- to the work every single day. Even though something about her work repeats day after day after day after day...

When complacency kicks in, and others refuse to change, we often try to persuade them to change or act in the exact opposite way we should. In this episode, the story of how Sean Callahan and Russell Glass found more effective and far more delightful approach.